


Flexibility

by dalekjast



Category: The Incredibles (2004)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-05-30 16:19:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 56,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15100505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dalekjast/pseuds/dalekjast
Summary: Elastigirl’s pretty sure she’s going to regret her decisions, but when you’re pressed for time and resources, sometimes you have to be flexible.





	1. BLACK & WHITE ARE THE NEW ORANGE

The barred door opened with its usual earsplitting shriek, but she didn’t bother to open her eyes. She didn’t need to. The rhythm of his footsteps was as familiar as the drumming of her own pulse in her ears. 

“Took you long enough.”

“You could pretend to be just the tiniest bit grateful, you know.” She couldn’t see his face, but she could hear the scowl in his voice. 

“Grateful for what, the fact that you’ve graced me with your beneficent presence?”

She couldn’t tell from behind closed eyelids, but she rather thought the peculiar banging noise might be the sound of his forehead against the metal frame of the bed. 

“Why do I even bother?” he muttered. “I should just leave you here.”

Evelyn Deavor finally cracked one eye open to focus on her brother. “You say that like there’s an alternative.”

“Evie. Come on.” Winston’s face softened. “Did you really think I’d abandon you? It wasn’t an easy sell, but I have my ways.”

“Don’t call me Evie.” She really should stop antagonizing the only person trying to help her, but Evelyn had never been very good at self-preservation. Or people, for that matter. She opened the other eye and sat up, pinning Winston with a frosty glare. “Why?”

Winston massaged his temples, and she could see him struggling to keep his temper in check. “Why do I want to keep my sister, my _only living family_ , from rotting in prison? Gee, _Evelyn_ , I don’t know, and you’re making it pretty hard to remember right now.”

She hesitated. “You really are here to get me out?”

And just like that, his normal easy smile was back in place. “Of course! Obviously there’s some fine print attached, but really, anything’s a step up at this point, huh?” It was hard to keep Winston down for long. He was just too damn happy. 

“Well, I think if ever there was a time for reading the terms and conditions, this is it.” Evelyn crossed her arms and tried to relax the glare she was still leveling at her brother. “Lay it on me.”

“You’ll be under house arrest, obviously. All outside communications monitored, supervised visits only, except for a handful of approved people ... no screens - fairly self-explanatory.”

“That seems ... mild.”

“Well, it’s like Elastigirl pointed out, you didn’t actually ki-“

“She WHAT?” Evelyn was flabbergasted. “Elastigirl was in on this?”

“Er, yeah.” Winston shrugged. “I told you, it was a tough sell. And I obviously didn’t have much credibility arguing your case. A lot of people are still convinced I must have known about Screenslaver. But nobody was prepared to argue with Elastigirl. She’s kind of a big deal right now.”

“But ... but why ... what the hell?” Evelyn spluttered. “I may not have succeeded, but I definitely tried to kill her.”

“Yeah, maybe don’t say that so loud while we’re still, y’know, in the jail.” Winston’s fingers beat a sharp staccato against the wall. “In fact, can we stop looking this particular gift horse in the mouth and just get out of here? You can keep grilling me later.”

Evelyn reluctantly conceeded that he was correct. Nothing good would come of giving the powers that be time to reconsider her release. Even Winston’s money and influence had their limits. 

The guards eyed her suspiciously as they processed her out, flinching any time she reached for a pen or glanced at a TV screen. Evelyn couldn’t deny that the reaction was gratifying. She kept her face neutral, too tired to attempt a pleasant demeanor. Winston kept studying her as though waiting for her to explode, and she was tempted to whack him over the head, but decided she’d better wait until they were clear of the prison grounds. 

Evelyn watched dispassionately as they locked the monitoring bracelet around her ankle. She had no doubt she could disable it, but there was little point until she had somewhere to go. Another worried glance from Winston made her dig an elbow into his ribs, guards’ opinions be dammed. He valiantly tried to conceal his wince. 

They made the walk to Winston’s limo in oppressive silence, conscious of the prison escort behind them, but as soon as the doors closed, Evelyn pounced. 

“What the hell is Elastigirl doing arguing for me?”

“Voyd too,” Winston muttered. “Mr. Incredible wasn’t on board - can’t imagine why not, after you _mind controlled_ his _wife_.”

Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Go ahead, Winston, get it all out. Scream at me, tell me I’m an idiot, tell me how I disgraced the family name and destroyed the company, how disappointed Mom and Dad would be, what a terrible person I am ...”

“I don’t think you’re a terrible person, Evie.” She scowled at the nickname, but Winston glared right back. “I’m on your side, I always have been, you know that.”

“You’re on the side of the Supers.”

“Yeah, well, like it or not, some of them are apparently on your side too. God knows why.”

“How hard did you have to twist her arm?”

Winston smiled briefly at her unintentional joke. “I didn’t. I got a hearing scheduled, I was there prepared to grovel and beg, and they just ... showed up.”

Evelyn frowned. “What did they say?”

“Hel- Elastigirl and Voyd made a pretty compelling case that there was no intent to harm. You gave Elastigirl plenty of warning every time an attack was about to happen, you even triggered the fire alarm before blowing up that building. Voyd said you never actually made them permanently hurt anybody.”

“I triggered the fire alarm to slow Elastigirl down! And I tried to ram your ship into the downtown!”

“Yeah, Elastigirl told ‘em you cut the mind control in plenty of time for the Supers to save the ship.”

“I ... What ... that’s not what happened!”

Winston laughed. “Why are you complaining about this? It got you out, didn’t it?”

“Hello, because something really weird is going on here. They’re probably planning to blackmail us or something.”

“I seriously doubt it.” Winston shrugged. “Besides, I’ve already forked over a ton of money to the city to pay for damages - you owe me for that, by the way, I had to unload the North Shore property for half what I could have gotten out of it - what’s a little more?”

Evelyn huffed and crossed her arms defiantly over her chest. “You just wait. They’re after something.”

“Whatever.” Winston opened his briefcase and pulled out a thick stack of papers. “Try not to implode before we get you home.” He dialed out on the limo’s phone, leaving Evelyn to stew in silence. 

 

#

 

Evelyn had to admit, she’d missed her own bed a lot more than she’d ever let on to anyone. Fresh out of a hot shower, wrapped in soft cotton and sprawled across the mattress, she could almost ignore the last few weeks. The monitoring bracelet tugged at her ankle when she rolled over, prompting a deep sigh. _Almost_. 

She could hear Winston downstairs, banging around the kitchen, probably destroying her designer cookware in pursuit of ... whatever it was he was trying to do. Hopefully it didn’t involve cake. After their 25th birthday party - well, there was a reason he’d been banned from her kitchen in the first place. 

“Evie! Come celebrate with me!” 

She considered crawling under the covers and shoving a pillow over her head, but ignoring Winston never worked out very well. It was usually faster and easier to play along with him until she got the chance to shove him out the front door. Besides, she needed to chew him out for whatever he’d done to the kitchen. With an annoyed grunt, she heaved herself off the bed and went to survey the damage. 

Winston was standing behind the counter, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet, beaming at something that might have been dinner, although it was difficult to tell under the layer of charcoal. Evelyn tacked towards the mini bar. 

“Much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, Brother Dearest, I didn’t leave prison only to be poisoned.”

“Is it that bad?” Winston’s crestfallen look reminded her forceably of a kicked puppy. She felt a flash of irritation at herself for being a pushover, but she also couldn’t kick the puppy again.

“It’s the thought that counts, Winston. Why don’t we order delivery from somewhere and just relax for a bit?”

They managed to stay civil during the meal, but later, drink in hand and leaning against the deck railing watching the sunset, Evelyn couldn’t stop herself from stirring the pot. 

“Your Super buddies probably wouldn’t be too thrilled to see you out here celebrating my release.”

“They knew I was picking you up today,” Winston said neutrally. He set his beer down and approached cautiously, leaning against the railing just close enough to brush their shoulders together. “I’ve missed you, Evie. The company’s not the same without you.”

“Guess that ship has sailed.” Evelyn kept her own voice firm, not allowing any emotion to creep in. 

“Of course not!” Winston sounded shocked. “This house arrest thing is temporary. Just get through it and you’ll be back to designing awesome things for DevTech before you know it!”

Evelyn shook her head and took another deep sip of her whiskey. “It’ll never happen, Winston. The investors will never trust me again. If word got out that I was designing for you, nobody would touch your tech with a ten foot pole. Even you can’t overcome my reputation.”

“I can, though! It’ll just take some time, and I can-“

“Stop. Just stop. You’re whistling past the graveyard, Winston. Grow up.”

It took a long time for Winston to speak again. “You don’t sound all that broken up about it.”

“I’m ...” Evelyn sighed and scrubbed her hand over her face. “I’m proud of what we built together. And I’ll miss working with you. But you don’t need me anymore - you have plenty of talented people now.”

“They aren’t as good as you.”

The corner of Evelyn’s mouth tugged upward in a slight smile. “Nobody’s as good as me.”

“Ok, I don’t care if you hate this.” Winston plucked Evelyn’s glass out of her hand and wrapped her up in a bear hug. “Please, please, stay out of trouble. I’ve missed you so much.”

Evelyn didn’t reply, but she allowed Winston to hug her for several minutes before squirming restlessly out of his embrace. 

 

#

 

It wasn’t long before Evelyn realized she was bored out of her mind. Without the discomfort of prison and the uncertainty of what would happen to her hanging over her head, she had entirely too much free time and no way to fill it. Her house was less of a home and more of a closet and occasional hotel - all of her work was at her old DevTech office. Even her books got stored there. She wasn’t much of a TV watcher, but now that she couldn’t have one, it was incredibly aggravating to be shut off from current events.

Winston stopped by every day for as long as she would tolerate him, but he was unusually cagey about news and the Supers. All Evelyn had been able to pry from him was that the superhero legalization had gone ahead as planned. 

After a lot of wheedling, she finally convinced Winston to bring her notebooks and drafting tools. 

“What do you think I’m going to do, build paper mache goggles?”

“The thought had crossed my mind. Let’s face it, if anybody could make that work, you could.”

“While your faith in me is touching,” Evelyn said, “I am going to lose my mind if you don’t bring me something to do. And then you really will have to worry about what I’ll come up with.”

Winston caved, like she’d known he would. By that afternoon she was sprawled out on her living room floor in an explosion of paper and firmly biting her tongue when she noticed her brother sneaking sketches out stuffed in his jacket. She was tempted to lay out some of the gadgets she’d thought of to misdirect or deactivate the ankle monitor, but she wasn’t entirely sure how far Winston’s sense of civic duty stretched. He might roll with it, or he might rat her out, so she decided to play it safe for the time being.

 

#

 

It took Evelyn nearly a month to notice the change in Winston. At first she’d been too wrapped up in her designing to pay much attention to the way his visits got shorter or more infrequent. Her head was constantly swimming with ideas, and she’d learned a long time ago that if she didn’t get them out in a concrete form, she started going a little crazy. 

Eventually, though, as she cleared out her brain’s backlog and settled in to a more moderate pace, she started noticing her brother again. He was tense, short-tempered, and, for someone that liked to hear himself talk as much as Winston, alarmingly quiet. She tried to bring it up a few times, but Winston waved off her concern.

Evelyn wasn’t used to taking the concerned older sibling role, but she kept prodding Winston until he finally broke down.

“Look, it’s nothing big, just some trouble in the city, we’re getting a handle on it.”

“Hmm.” Evelyn frowned. “Who’s ‘we’? And why are you involved in this trouble?”

“I’m not really involved, per se. It’s just ... asset management, some PR stuff ...”

She closed her eyes. “Superhero trouble. It’s something to do with the Supers. That’s why you don’t want to tell me.”

Winston blew out a long breath. “Yeah. There’s been an ... incident.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I probably shouldn’t be starting a new story when I’m bad at updating the first one, but I have a lot of Incredibles feels and this idea kinda bit my ankle and wouldn’t let go, so here we are. I’ll do my best to juggle. 
> 
> TBH I was 99% prepared to make Winston Deavor complicit in Evelyn’s plans. I thought it would have added an interesting dimension if they had successfully played everybody between the two of them, letting her take the fall but leaving him perfectly positioned to stab the Supers in the back at a later date. But I ended up scrapping it because Winston is just so. damn. good. in the movie (I mean, he has no special powers and he jumps out of a plane onto a doomed runaway boat to try to save people) - I felt way too guilty trying to perform a character assassination on that poor guy.
> 
> Anyhow. This pretty much picks up where I2 left off. I’m gonna try to keep it lighthearted, if I can, cause that’s a lot of the fun in the movies. If you notice any mistakes, feel free to hit me up about those. Hope y’all enjoy!


	2. CAN’T HELP FEELING WE’RE GOING ‘ROUND IN CIRCLES

The room was quiet, the silence broken only by the beeping of monitors and the quiet shuffle of footsteps as colorless government agents drifted in and out, assessing, treating, experimenting. Their patient lay motionless, unresponsive.

Helen stood near the doorway, hardly breathing herself as she watched the bed’s occupant struggle for air. Lucius’s normally dark skin was sallow, his features slack - it made him look old. Honey sat next to the bed, hunched over in her chair, equally haggard. By contrast, Bob, standing stiffly next to her, could have been carved from granite. Helen didn’t want to know what her own face looked like. 

They’d found Lucius two days ago, dumped in an alley on the west side. The lost tourists who’d stumbled on him though he was dead, but the spec ops team dispatched to recover him had discovered that he was still clinging to life, his body plunged into a state of near cryostasis in what they assumed was a reflex attempt to protect himself. The scorch marks on Frozone’s suit had been enough to tell them that this was probably the work of Incinerator, even before scans revealed severe internal burns. The government types were currently theorizing that Frozone was one of the only Supers that could have survived such a direct attack due to his innate resistance to heat.

Coming so soon on the heels of the Screenslaver incident, Incinerator had seemed like a bad joke at first. Buildings and transportation had been targeted, and it appeared they had a sort of copycat on the loose - someone else that resented superheroes or wanted to make them look bad. But after the attacks shifted to people, after the perpetrator was finally seen, it became apparent that they were dealing with a situation the more astute among them had always feared - a rogue Super. 

Helen’s attention was snapped back to the bed as the beeping from one of the monitors suddenly kicked up several notches. The agents shifted restlessly, and the arm of Honey’s chair gave way with a sudden _crack_ as Bob clenched his fist. Lucius’s head thrashed from side to side, and Helen held her breath, but a moment later he gave a shuddering gasp and opened his eyes. Honey let out a strangled sob and gripped Lucius’s hand. Helen sagged against the doorframe in relief before pulling herself together and moving to Bob’s side. 

Lucius squinted up at them through bleary eyes. “Hey, Honey,” he whispered. “Sorry I missed dinner.”

#

Bob found Helen in the cafeteria later, clutching an extra large coffee and just getting off the phone with Violet.

“How are the kids doing?”

“Fine. Jack Jack’s napping, Dash is still at practice. Vi said she’d call the school and have them let Dash know that Lucius woke up. They’ve been pretty worried too. They wanted to know if they could come visit.”

Bob frowned as he sat down across from her. “I’m not wild about letting them get too close to the Agency.”

“That’s what I told Vi.” Helen took another deep sip of her coffee. “She understands. Once Lucius is cleared to go home, we can arrange a time for them to go over and see him.”

They were silent for several minutes. Helen studied Bob’s face as he stared out the window, noticing the angry furrows over his eyes and the rhythmic tightening of his jaw. She reached across the table to lay a hand on his arm.

“Bob, I know you want to get the guy that did this. I do too. But we have to be careful. We can’t go off half cocked.”

“Oh, I’m not half anything, I’m 100% going to find that bastard and make him pay.” He gave her a crooked smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “And don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”

“You’ll be careful? Sounds an awful lot like you think I’m just going to let you run off and play vigilante on your own!”

“Helen, you’ve got to let -“

“We can’t keep having this argument, Bob!”

“I’m not the one arguing about it!” Bob caught sight of the look on her face and backtracked hastily. “Look, this isn’t like the other times. It’s not about you ... not being in danger, or not able to do it ... this is - it’s just something I have to take care of myself. Something I ... don’t really want you to see.”

“I’m just as invested in this as you are. Lucius is my friend too.” Helen stared him down. “But we can’t just take the law into our own hands. We have to catch this guy and bring him in.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.” Bob stood up. “Besides, this maniac is only getting bolder. One of us has to keep the kids safe. When you see them, tell ‘em I love ‘em and I’ll be back in a few days.” He shrugged his jacket on and headed for the door.

“Bob -“

“I’m going. End of discussion. You can be mad at me when I get back.” The door swung shut behind him, and Helen dropped her head into her hands. 

“Dammit.” 

#

The kids were bouncing off the walls by the time Helen arrived home from the hospital facility - or, more accurately, Jack Jack was bouncing through the walls, with the other two chasing vainly after him. He snapped back into the proper dimension as soon as he spotted Helen.

“Hey Mom! Where’s Dad? How’s Uncle Lucius? Can you sign my permission slip for the field trip next week?” Dash delivered a barrage of questions in his usual high-speed machine gun style. 

“Lucius is fine. Leave your permission slip on the counter; I’ll fill it out tonight.” Helen scooped up Jack Jack and hugged him tightly for a moment.

“So where is Dad?” Violet asked.

“He had some things to take care of. He may be gone a couple of days.”

“Does this have anything to do with Incinerator?” Violet motioned towards the TV. “It’s been all over the news. Apparently he melted the police station this morning.”

Helen sighed. “Your father and a lot of other people are trying to track him down. Don’t worry - they’ll catch him. Now, can you get Jack Jack ready for bed? I need to make some calls.”

She grabbed the phone from her room and jumped up onto the roof of the house to be sure she couldn’t be overhead. Her first call was to Dicker.

“Rick, hey, it’s Helen Parr.”

“Hey Helen. I heard about Lucius - how’s he doin’?”

“Not bad, considering.” Helen gripped the phone tighter. “Listen, has Bob contacted you at all today?”

“Nope. Haven’t heard from him in a couple weeks. What’s up?”

Helen chewed at her lip and tried to pick her words carefully. “He’s doing some digging, trying to see what he can find on Incinerator. I’m just ... trying to follow up on the anything he didn’t have time for, but I didn’t know if he’d reached out to you.”

“Huh.” She could hear Dicker rustling some papers on the other end of the line. “Well, like I said, he hasn’t been in contact. I don’t have much on Incinerator. Obviously a Super, but as far as anybody knows he wasn’t on our radar before all this started. Either he’s young, or he’s been in hiding even longer than the rest of you. The Agency might have more up-to-date information, of course.”

“Yeah, we’re just beating all the bushes. Thanks, Rick.”

“No problem. You be careful out there.”

Helen ended the call and stared out over Metroville’s skyline, thoughts churning. With Frozone out of commission, there was really only one other person she thought Bob might turn to for help. She was reluctant to put Edna in the middle of their problems yet again, but she needed to find either Incinerator or Bob, preferably both, before the former attacked again or the latter did anything ... stupid. She picked up the phone and dialed. 

“Hey, E, it’s Helen. I know it’s late, but can I come by?”

#

“So Robert is out chasing down this new Super on his own?” Edna shook her head. “Rash, very rash.”

“I can’t believe he hasn’t come here. I thought for sure he’d try to get your help.” 

Edna switched on her TV. There was a game show of some sort playing, but Helen zeroed in on the news ticker running across the bottom of the screen. 

“‘Midtown apartment fire believed to be the work of Incinerator; hundreds left homeless.’ What does this guy want?”

“That was Altitude’s home,” Edna said. She gestured toward a stack of papers on her desk. “Nomad, Blink, Typhon, Frozone, of course ... Voyd. All targeted.”

Helen looked at her in alarm. “Voyd’s been attacked too? Nobody told me!”

“She’s fine. They took her to a safe house after the incident - she’s barely been in contact with anyone. So far, all of them have been extremely lucky, even Lucius. But it’s only a matter of time before this Incinerator succeeds.”

“Ok, so, he’s targeting Supers, in addition to the regular people he’s attacked.” Helen shook her head. “If he wants to make Supers look bad, that doesn’t make any sense.”

“He is targeting people who kept the Supers down.” Edna scooped up her pen and started writing. “He has attacked media outlets, police, politicians ... do you remember Oliver Sansweet?” 

“How could I forget?” Helen rolled her eyes. “He’s practically a swear word in our house -“

“They found him dead two weeks ago. Officially, a stroke.”

“And unofficially?”

“Barbequed. Internally.”

Helen winced. 

“Yes. A rather difficult power portfolio to defend against.” Edna continued writing. “Typhon and Nomad, you remember, were particularly moderate voices during the original superhero debate - they recommended that the Supers go underground until the dust had settled. I’m digging into the archives on Blink and Altitude. Ironically, Robert is probably safer than you at the moment.”

“Why ...” Helen cut herself off abruptly. “Oh my god, Evelyn’s sentencing. He went after Voyd because she spoke in support of Evelyn. He’ll be after me for the same thing.”

“Precisely.”

Helen felt panic welling up in her chest. “Never mind me, what if he goes after the house and I’m not there? What about the kids?”

“As soon as you called, I sent my security team to watch them. I wanted to discuss this with you in person.”

“What am I gonna do, E? I can’t have my family anywhere near me - if he tries to take me out, they’ll just be collateral damage! And with Bob out who-knows-where ...”

Edna nodded. “Given his powers, I don’t think Jack Jack will be in danger of incineration, but the other two are certainly vulnerable.”

Helen cupped her hands over her mouth and tried to slow her suddenly erratic heartbeat. Edna folded the paper she’d been writing on and held it out.

“Here is what we will do. That is a list of every Super and politician I can think of who was particularly outspoken about superhero illegalization. You will take this list so you know who might be targeted and devise a trap. I will take the children with me to a secure location.”

They hammered out the details over a large pot of coffee. Edna’s security detail woke Violet, Dash, and Jack Jack and brought them to her mansion so she could disable the tracking chips in their suits while Helen explained as much of the situation as she dared. When the heavily guarded convoy rolled out the drive an hour later, Helen was confident they’d done everything possible to keep her kids away from Incinerator. 

She was also pretty confident she would seriously regret her next move, but she needed backup of some sort, and with Bob MIA, Frozone down, and Edna out of contact, she didn’t have many choices left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I probably did a lousy job of keeping this chapter lighthearted, but I do have to set the stakes somehow, and I did try to keep it from veering all the way into angsty territory. We’ll return to our regular snarky programming shortly.
> 
> Also don’t get too excited here - I am not an update-a-day kinda person. This is an anomaly. :) Just had some extra time this weekend. 
> 
> So this story is once again revisiting what appears to be the primary source of conflict in the Parrs’ relationship - sorry - but I hope I’m at least coming at it from enough of a different angle that it won’t feel like a carbon copy of the movies. Mr. Incredible still wants to work alone, but his reasons are a little different this time.
> 
> And no, I won’t be performing a character assassination on Bob Parr either. He has some issues to work out - some that I don’t feel got fully wrapped up in I2, and some that I think would crop up under certain circumstances. But all the characters have issues. It’d be a really boring story if everybody was well-adjusted. 
> 
> Huge thanks to everybody that’s read, commented, kudo-d, and bookmarked - it’s always fun to write, but it’s definitely more fun when you know you aren’t shouting into the void :)


	3. THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS ON THIN F*CKING ICE

Evelyn cursed loudly as the butter knife she was using for a screwdriver slipped and dug painfully into her knee. She was tucked under the dining room table, finally trying to fix the leg Winston had managed to break last year during an ill-advised attempt at indoor golfing.

The sound of her doorbell startled her badly, and she swore again as she jerked upright and smacked her head on the underside of the table. 

Still muttering under her breath, Evelyn stalked to the door and yanked it open without bothering to check through the window first. Her mouth dropped open in shock when she found Elastigirl standing on her porch. She was in street clothes, hands shoved into her pockets and looking decidedly uncomfortable.

“Ooh kay. Judging by the look of stunned disbelief on your face, I’m guessing Winston did _not_ warn you I was coming by.”

“That conniving little son of a bitch.”

They stared awkwardly at each other for several moments before Elastigirl cleared her throat. “Mind if I come in? I do need to talk to you.”

Evelyn privately vowed to strangle Winston at the earliest available opportunity. “I doubt I can stop you.” She padded back toward the kitchen without bothering to see if Elastigirl was following her. “But I’m gonna need alcohol for this.”

“It’s 10 o’clock in the morning.”

“If you get judgy I will find a way to throw you out.”

“Fine.” Elastigirl held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. She was looking curiously around the kitchen, and Evelyn tried to scan the papers she’d left out on the table without being obvious, hoping there wasn’t anything incriminating lying around. The last thing she needed was Elastigirl deciding she was better off in jail after all. 

She poured herself a large tumbler of whiskey, not bothering to offer any to her uninvited guest. Elastigirl wrinkled her nose but didn’t say anything when Evelyn took a large gulp. 

“Ok, out with it. I don’t want you here, and you don’t much look like you want to be here. What are you after?”

“I don’t know what all Winston’s told you, but there’s a rogue Super on the loose -“

“Yeah, yeah, causing mayhem, attacking people, all very horrible I’m sure.” Evelyn shrugged. “I suppose I should send him a thank-you note. Quite apart from proving my point, he’s certainly taking public attention off me.”

Elastigirl frowned. “He’s no laughing matter. He’s dangerous and he needs to be stopped. Which is why I’m here. I ... need your help.”

Evelyn had unfortunately chosen that moment to take another large sip of her whiskey and ended up inhaling most of it out of sheer surprise. She gagged and doubled over against the counter, frantically trying to clear her airway. Elastigirl watched with one eyebrow raised and an expression of faint amusement as Evelyn gradually got her coughing under control.

“Jeez, were you just gonna stand there and watch me choke?”

“Tit for tat.”

“Thought -“ Evelyn coughed again, wincing as the alcohol seared her nose and throat. “Thought you said I could count on you.”

“Are you dead?” Elastigirl replied pointedly. 

“Ok ... fair ...” She staggered over and dropped onto a barstool, drawing in a deep breath. “So, let’s back up to that part where I must have misheard you, because I thought you said you needed my help.”

“Hey, I know it’s crazy. Trust me, I do. But I’m serious. This guy will be hard to find and harder to fight, and I need every edge I can get, people, tech, whatever.”

“Yeah, did you miss the bit where I tried to destroy you all? Which part of that was unclear, exactly?” Evelyn laughed bitterly. “As far as I’m concerned, you can all go to hell.”

Elastigirl narrowed her eyes and studied Evelyn, the thoughtful look on her face putting Evelyn instantly on guard. She wrestled internally, but her curiosity finally won out over the desire to spite Elastigirl further. 

“What? What could you possibly think is going to change my mind on this?”

“Well,” Elastigirl said slowly, “given that Incinerator appears to be targeting those he holds responsible for the Supers’ problems -“

“Uh, last I heard, he was targeting other Supers.”

Elastigirl nodded. “Yep, the ones that advised working with the authorities that wanted us underground.”

“Anti-Super targets, huh? So, what, you think my sense of self-preservation is suddenly going to kick in and I’ll happily work with you to save my own skin?” Evelyn snorted. “I kicked you in the face while freefalling from ten thousand feet - I wouldn’t lean too hard on that concept.”

“Mhmm. I had Ed- ... a friend, take a look at that compression suit you were wearing. She was pretty impressed with the built-in shock dampeners - very cleverly hidden. She reckons whoever was wearing that might have survived all sorts of stuff, from a boat crash to jumping, or falling, out of an airplane.”

Evelyn scowled and threw back the last of the whiskey in her glass. Elastigirl’s smile was sincere, but her eyes were canny.

“You might be a little maniac, even depressed, but you’re not suicidal. Besides,” she shrugged, “I don’t think you’d do that to Winston, especially not after -“

“Don’t.” Evelyn barely recognized her own voice. “If you somehow think you can emotionally manipulate me into helping you, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

Elastigirl was silent for several minutes. Evelyn refused to give her the satisfaction of speaking again, even to tell her to get out. Eventually Elastigirl drew a deep breath.

“I don’t have a lot of time to wait around. This guy is dangerous. I have to catch him, and I’ll have a better chance of doing that with your help, your tech. But I’ll do it alone, if I have to.”

Evelyn was afraid to open her mouth. She felt dangerously out of control, and the last thing she needed was to say something in the heat of the moment. 

Elastigirl sighed. “Think about it. I’ll be back for your answer tonight.”

#

“Evie! Where are you?”

Evelyn deliberately ignored her brother’s voice. When she heard the patio door open, she didn’t bother to turn around. 

“What are you hiding out back here for? And why does your house look like a Category 5 hurricane went through it?” He barreled on without waiting for an answer. “I take it Elastigirl stopped by.”

“Yeah. Thanks so much for the heads up on that, by the way.”

Winston didn’t have the grace to look remotely abashed. “If I’d told you she was coming, would you even have opened the door?” he asked reasonably.

Evelyn glowered at him. “I know you inhabit some unknown world to the rest of us where everything is sunshine and rainbows and I’m not evil, but what in god’s name gave you the idea I would agree to work with a Super?”

“Uh, cause you get to build stuff again, for starters.” Winston poked her arm. “You really gonna tell me with a straight face you didn’t enjoy engineering that bike for Elastigirl?”

Evelyn refused to dignify that with a response. Winston, unfortunately, wasn’t put off by her silence. She hadn’t been able to intimidate him in years.

“Not to mention, they did help get you out of jail. And, with this psycho on the loose, we’re not really safe until somebody catches him.”

“I’d say you’re pretty safe, to be honest, Winston. You’re pretty much the whole reason the Supers are legal again. Which, if Elastigirl’s right about this Incinerator character, should keep you pretty well out of the firing line.”

“That might have been true before, but he did attack Voyd, so I think we have to assume Elastigirl and I are on the list as well.”

Evelyn gripped the patio railing against a sudden sense of vertigo. Of course Winston, sweet, stupidly naive Winston, had put himself in the crosshairs for her. He was still talking, and she forced herself to stay tuned into his voice.

“Whatever you decide, we need to get you moved. This place just isn’t safe. It’s only a matter of time before Incinerator tracks you down. All of us, really - as soon as I get you sorted, I’m going off the grid too.” He hesitated. “Look, I’ve put all your stuff on a truck at DevTech. Just ... let me know what you decide. And don’t take too long.” 

#

Winston had been right about the Category 5. She hadn’t realized quite how much damage she’d done after Elastigirl had left. Evelyn hunted through the piles on the floor until she found a relatively empty sketch pad and her drafting pencils. 

She did what she always did when she needed to think - she kept her hands occupied with drawing while her mind focused a million miles away, turning over all sides of the problem. It wasn’t until Evelyn looked back at her sketches an hour later that she realized she’d been designing a new Elasticycle.

“God damn it.”

There was no question in her mind that Incinerator would only get more dangerous until he was caught. Even in the limited rundown Winston had given her the previous day, it had been obvious that the attacks were escalating. 

There was always the option of going rogue. Now that she knew where Winston had stashed her equipment, she could disable the ankle monitor, grab her stuff, and vanish. She was extremely confident of her ability to stay ahead of anybody trying to hunt her down. Unlike Winston, she’d always been good at keeping a low profile.

And that, Evelyn realized, was the crux of the matter. She may not care about her own safety, but she wasn’t the only Deavor with a target painted on her back. As long as Incinerator was free, Winston was in danger, and unfortunately, she knew her chances of stopping Incinerator were better working with Elastigirl.

_Besides_ , the voice at the back of her mind whispered, _if you help Elastigirl save the day, there’s always the chance that you can go back to working with Winston._

Evelyn hurled her pencil at the wall in frustration and buried her head in her hands. She was pretty sure the universe was laughing at her - it seemed like a sick joke that she had to trust the life of yet another family member to a Super. Still, she realized, she would go to greater lengths than that to keep Winston alive.

With the decision made, there was no point in prevaricating. She shot to her feet and started working.

#

Elastigirl stopped dead in her tracks when she entered the front hall and saw the duffle bag sitting by the door. “Well. Does this mean you’ve decided to help me?”

Evelyn crossed her arms defensively over her chest. “First, tell me, why me?”

Elastigirl raised an eyebrow. “Because you’re brilliant? Because your tech is cutting edge, and I’m going to need the best I can get in order to take this guy on?”

“And you trust me not to sabotage whatever I make for you, not to stab you in the back somehow?”

“Hell no. If I had any other option, that’s where I’d be.”

Evelyn studied Elastigirl for a long moment, taking in the bags under her eyes, the stiff set of her shoulders, the nervous tension running through her. 

“Fortunately for you, while I don’t give a damn about superheroes, I do give a damn about Winston. And I miss my work. And as much fun as it would be to watch you wrap your new bike around a tree, I have a feeling they’d find a way to keep me from any and all tech forever if that happened, not to mention Incinerator would probably escape.”

“So don’t trust you, trust your pragmatism?” Elastigirl smirked. “Seems about right.”

Evelyn hesitated for a moment before sticking out her hand. “Partners by necessity, then.”

Elastigirl didn’t budge from the doorway, but her hand snaked across the room to met Evelyn’s. “Partners.”

“Ok, let’s get this show on the road.” Evelyn slung her duffle bag over her shoulder. “We need to go to DevTech - Winston’s had all my gear packed up for me. If you want my help, I’m going to need my tools.”

“Fair enough.” Elastigirl frowned. “Only thing is, I don’t know how to get you out of here without causing a panic. They’ll know you’ve escaped.”

“No worries, I’ve got it covered.” Evelyn made her way to the hall closet and pulled a vacuum cleaner out, complete with her ankle monitor clipped around the handle. 

“A vacuum cleaner?”

“Ah, but not just any vacuum.” Evelyn flicked a few switches on the machine. The vacuum came to life and rolled into the kitchen, then back out to the living room, where it parked itself directly in front of the couch. Elastigirl watched, bemused. 

“I’ve programmed it to follow several different routines around the house, similar to my own movements. It’ll even move to the bed and enter sleep mode at night. By the time they realize what I’ve done, we’ll be long gone and the trail will be cold.”

“That’s worrisome and kind of hilarious all at once,” Elastigirl admitted.

“They didn’t leave me much to work with here, but I’m nothing if not creative.” Evelyn headed for the kitchen. “Just a couple more things to take care of and we can go.”

“Like what?” Elastigirl said suspiciously.

“Booby traps.”

“So you can blow up the cops that come to check out how you’ve escaped? I don’t think so.”

“Not for the cops.” Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Give me a little more credit than that. It’s like Winston said - it’s only a matter of time before Incinerator figures out where my house is. He’ll come here looking for me, or at least a clue about where I’ve gone. And I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t burn the house down when he discovers I’m not here.”

“So ...”

“So, all the traps are triggered by fire, in one way or another. I doubt any of them will take him out - you Supers are notoriously tough - but it will definitely piss him off. And angry people make mistakes.”

Elastigirl started laughing. “Leave it to you to try to make the angry, murderous Super even more angry and murderous.”

“We all have our talents, Elastigirl.”

Evelyn set her traps and took one last look around her house. She wasn’t precisely sentimental about the place, but she had lived there her entire adult life, and it was odd to leave knowing that it would likely be destroyed. She slipped into the passenger seat of Elastigirl’s almost painfully sensible suburban mom car and leaned her head against the window. 

“By the way,” Elastigirl said hesitantly, “seeing as how we’re stuck together for a while ... you might as well call me Helen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y’all! I’m sitting in my house trying to keep my dog calm for National Scare The Crap Out Of Your Pets Day, so I thought it was a good time to post another chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy! And again, thanks so much for reading!


	4. I TRIED TO HOLD YOUR HAND BUT YOU’D RATHER HOLD YOUR GRUDGE

A frosty silence hung over the car as Helen pulled away from the house. She considered trying to start a conversation, but after a day of phone calls trying to convince politicians to go into hiding, she felt pretty talked out. Thankfully, most of them had been sensible to the danger posed by Incinerator and willing to lay low for the foreseeable future.

As Helen contemplated her next steps, Evelyn surprised her by speaking up. “Why would you want me of all people to use your ‘secret identity’ name?”

Helen gave her an odd look. “Winston already knew all our civilian identities before the Screenslaver thing went down - I assumed he’d shared that with you.”

“He did. But still.”

“No point in ignoring what we both know. Besides,” Helen added, “I’m not going to wear my mask and suit 24/7 for however long we take to sort this. It’s really not that comfortable.”

Evelyn gave a humorless laugh. “Whatever. You’re still ridiculously trusting.”

“I’m pretty sure I can take you out if I need to, is all.” Helen noted Evelyn’s skeptical look and decided not to mention the anti-hypnosis contacts Edna had whipped up for her before leaving town. Evelyn wasn’t totally wrong - Helen had always been a trusting sort - but there was a line between trusting and stupid, and she had no intention of getting on the wrong side of it.

Helen stopped her car across the street from DevTech, and they both studied the building for several minutes, searching for anything out of place. Evelyn pulled a handheld monitor from her bag and started flicking switches.

“It’s patched into DevTech’s security feed,” she offered before Helen could ask. “Winston dropped it off for me earlier.”

They watched the screen in silence as Evelyn scanned through the channels for any signs of intruders or police.

“Well, I can’t see anything.”

Helen reached into her pocket and pulled out her mask. “No sense waiting. Let’s get that truck.”

As they crept away from the car, Helen heard Evelyn laughing quietly to herself. “What’s funny?”

“Oh, just imagining the panic that will ensue when Elastigirl’s car is found abandoned outside DevTech, of all places.” Evelyn must have caught sight of the consternation on her face, because she held out her hand in Helen’s direction. “You’re no fun. Give me your car keys.”

Helen handed them over reluctantly and watched as Evelyn scribbled a quick note on a scrap of paper before dashing up to the front door and shoving both paper and keys through the mail slot.

“Winston’s stopping by before he leaves town. He’ll get rid of it in the morning.”

“Uh ...”

“Temporarily.” Evelyn rolled her eyes. “You should hope he misplaces it, I’m sure he’d get you something twice as expensive to make up for it.”

Shaking her head slightly, Helen led the way around the building. The back lot was mostly dark, but a lone floodlight illuminated the entrance to DevTech’s underground parking garage, and Helen could just make out the bulky form of a large box truck parked on the other side of the barrier.

“I think that’s our ride,” she said quietly. They approached the garage as inconspicuously as they could, but nothing jumped out of the shadows to attack them, and Helen breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She wasn’t wild about chasing Incinerator with only Evelyn Deavor for backup, but she was even less enamoured with the idea of doing it with no backup because she’d lost Evelyn to ambush or arrest.

Evelyn punched a code into the keypad to lower the concrete barrier while Helen flattened a hand under the door of the security office to unlock it and retrieve the truck keys. She half expected an argument over who would be driving, but Evelyn surrendered the wheel without a fight, which surprised Helen slightly until she got a good look at her passenger as they pulled out of the lot. Evelyn was slumped against the window, her habitually sleepy look even more pronounced - Helen couldn’t tell if she was slightly drunk or just exhausted, but she was clearly in no fit state to drive anywhere and had obviously been running on adrenaline and stubbornness.

“I can feel you staring,” Evelyn said dryly.

Helen decided discretion was the better part of valor. “Just trying to figure out where we should start.”

“At the very beginning,” Evelyn quipped. “A very good place to start.”

“Huh. Wouldn’t have pegged you for a fan of musicals.”

“It’s not me, it’s Winston.”

“Ah.”

Silence descended on the truck. It was the first pause Helen had taken all day, and she couldn’t stop her mind drifting to Bob. She’d taken a risk and gone back to their temporary mansion in the afternoon, hoping he might have called or dropped a note off, but the house was empty of messages. As much as she wanted him to reach out to her, Helen knew the same impulse that had pushed her to hide the kids with Edna would be keeping him far away in a misguided attempt to protect her. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably as she realized that Bob probably didn’t know about Incinerator’s targets. 

Still, she realized, she could take comfort in the fact that Incinerator likely wasn’t hunting Bob. Really, she couldn’t think of a superhero more opposed to the illegalization than Mr. Incredible. She smiled slightly. _Poor Bob, he just wants to catch bad guys and help people, and these crazy things just keep happening._

Evelyn shifted restlessly in the passenger seat, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her forehead on them. Helen felt another tiny smile try to break through as she remembered telling Violet not to sit like that in a car in case of accidents, and she amused herself imagining Evelyn’s reaction to that lecture. 

“Where’re we going? S’not the way to Winston’s loaner house.” Evelyn’s words were starting to slur together alarmingly, and her voice was muffled from speaking into her knees, but Helen got the gist.

“I have a friend who’s out of town for the duration of this ... problem, and she’s very kindly agreed to let us use her house as a base of operations. It has a few security measures that may come in handy.”

“So we’re hanging out in the inner sanctum of the illustrious Edna Mode,” Evelyn said. Helen gave her a sharp look, but the other woman didn’t notice. “Always wanted to see her lab. She’s brilliant.”

“If you go sticking your nose anywhere you shouldn’t, I have no doubt Edna will make life extremely unpleasant for you when she gets back.”

“Gee, wonder what that’d be like,” Evelyn said sarcastically. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to strip your friend’s lab for parts.”

Helen decided to drop it. There was no point trying to convince Evelyn of anything just yet, and anyway, she was pretty sure Edna would have plenty of security features activated inside the house as well. She’d back Edna against anyone else, any day, no matter how brilliant they were.

They turned in at Edna’s drive, and Helen activated the remote in her wristwatch to open the laser security gate. Evelyn lifted her head enough to catch a glimpse of the house. 

“Ostentatious,” she muttered.

“Pot, meet kettle,” Helen shot back. “You guys own ... how many houses? And boats? And buildings?”

Evelyn waved a hand absently but didn’t answer. 

Helen parked the truck under the carport and headed inside, Evelyn trailing in her wake. She bounced off the doorframe before managing to get herself going in a straight line, and Helen had to fake a cough to hide her laughter.

Her own weariness was catching up to her - she was running on less than five hours of sleep in the last two days - and Helen paused just long enough to point out the guest rooms to Evelyn before making a beeline for Edna’s master suite. She cradled her head in her hands as she walked, trying to will away the pain that told her she was getting close to her limits.

She’d felt uncomfortable when Edna told her to use the suite, but E had insisted, because “if you are going to share the house with a sociopath, you need a secure place to sleep without worrying about a knife in your back, or worse.” Accordingly, once Helen entered the suite, she tapped out the code Edna had given her and watched in amusement as heavy security panels slammed down over all the exits. She didn’t actually think Evelyn would try to attack her in her sleep, but Edna was correct - there was no point in taking chances.

Helen tumbled face first onto the bed and unceremoniously dumped all thoughts of supervillians, betrayal, and security out of her head. She was pretty sure she fell asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

#

She was normally a morning person, but it took Helen a few disoriented minutes to remember where she was and why. The room was pitch black, and she wondered if she’d somehow slept through an entire day before realizing the security panels were still locked down.

As she lifted the shades and made her way to the ensuite, Helen took stock. The fuzziness and pounding headache she’d been dealing with had subsided, and the tight ball of anxiety that had been in her stomach ever since Bob left had eased slightly. After a shower and a change of clothes, she felt almost human.

When Helen finally made it downstairs, the first thing she saw was the elaborate screen array that had taken over Edna’s dining room table. The second thing was Evelyn, wrapped around a mug of coffee and practically comatose. Helen approached cautiously and stretched out a hand to tap Evelyn’s shoulder, but it was batted away. Evelyn muttered something unintelligible. Her hair stuck up at even odder angles than usual, and it made her look like she’d licked an electrical socket.

“You look terrible,” Helen said without thinking. She immediately gave herself a mental slap and tried to backtrack. “I mean, are you ok? Did you even sleep?”

Evelyn squinted up at her through bloodshot eyes. “I haven’t had a mother in ten years, I don’t need one now.”

“I was just ... okay, you know what? Forget it.” Helen reached over and snagged two bowls and some cereal from the cabinets. She thought she heard a muttered “show off” from Evelyn, but she ignored it. Plopping one of the bowls down in front of Evelyn, she filled it with cereal before taking her own bowl and sitting across the table. 

Evelyn stared at the cereal bowl with such a blank expression, Helen wondered if she was even seeing it, or if she’d managed to fall asleep sitting up with her eyes open. Finally, Evelyn swung her head in Helen’s direction. “What did I just say about the mothering?”

“You may not need a mother - debatable - but I need backup, and I don’t need that backup falling asleep at the switch or sending me off on a wild goose chase because she forgot to eat and screwed something up after passing out due to low blood sugar. Eat.”

Evelyn considered that for several seconds. Her head tipped forward again, and Helen thought she might face plant in the cereal, but she just rested her jaw in one hand and started to listlessly pick at the cereal with the other.

“Seriously, did you sleep at all?”

“I think I napped for about 20 minutes.” Evelyn shook her head. “It’s not important. I wanted to get this tracker on-line and start monitoring it.”

“What kind of tracker?” Helen pushed her breakfast aside and leaned forward to get a better look at the screens.

“I’m looking for heat signature events.” Evelyn was getting more alert as she discussed the tracker, and Helen was impressed and a little envious at how well she could pull herself together on so little sleep. “I hacked into a few government satellites with orbital patterns that cross over Metroville - don’t give me that look, what they don’t know won’t hurt us - and I’m using them to watch for sudden flare ups that will match with attacks by Incinerator.”

“So you just want to wait until he attacks somewhere? We can just watch the news for that.”

“I don’t care about the attacks, I’m interested in what happens right before the attacks. Look.” Evelyn grabbed a nearby remote and switched on Edna’s TV. “There was a fire at City Hall about four o’clock this morning. They’re saying it was Incinerator.” She jabbed a finger at her monitors. “Here’s the heat signature spike, same time, same place.”

“Okay,” Helen said slowly. 

“But look at this.” Evelyn pointed to another reading. “This is about five minutes before the attack.”

“Is that a Geiger counter?”

“Yep.”

“So, just before Incinerator set fire to City Hall -“

“He put out a massive spike of radiation.” Evelyn took a huge gulp of her coffee. “I dunno why, yet, or how it relates to his powers. And I’ll have to test it through a few more occurrences to be sure it wasn’t an anomaly. But if he gives off that kind of signature every time he uses his powers ...”

“We might be able to track him. Heck, if he gives off that much radiation, maybe he’s low-level radioactive all the time.”

“That’s entirely possible, which is where you come in,” Evelyn said. “These satellites are a really blunt instrument. I can only see the big stuff. I’m building you some more portable equipment, and if we can get you in the ballpark, you should be able to pin him down.”

“Assuming he doesn’t pin me down first,” Helen said wryly.

“I suggest you avoid that, Elastigirl. I’d hate to have to get a new Super and start from square one.”

“I’ll do my best not to inconvenience you ... Hey, where are you going?” Helen asked as Evelyn staggered to her feet.

“I’m going to bed. I just needed you to watch the monitors. Wake me up if he shows up again. Otherwise I’ll be back in a couple hours. Try not to miss anything.”

Helen bit back a sharp retort. “Maybe you should try a little longer-“

“No. Mothering.” Helen winced as Evelyn slammed the hall door behind her on her way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all, as soon as Evelyn rocked up onscreen, I was like, “Cranky, cynical, introverted designer, absolute disaster dropping shit everywhere trying to get to her meeting on time, high as a kite on that too little sleep/too much caffeine combo, got that ‘either I just rolled out of bed or I forgot to actually go to bed’ look going on - holy crap, I’m in a Pixar movie!” Like, I know she’s evil and all, but I identify with this on a deep level. So there’s definitely some self-mockery going on here, because I have definitely experienced the all-nighter workaholic hangover more times than is healthy. 
> 
> As always, thanks so much for reading. Hope y’all are enjoying the story!


	5. I UNDERSTOOD SOME OF THOSE WORDS

When Evelyn made an appearance three hours later, her eyes were still at half mast and her wet hair was plastered to her head, but she’d found a change of clothes from somewhere and managed to walk in a straight line when she entered the dining room. Helen pushed her chair back away from the table and tipped her head from side to side, sighing in relief as her neck cracked. She watched with a slight smile as Evelyn gravitated toward the coffee maker.

“All’s quiet on the western front,” Helen said. “The City Hall fire is all over the news, but they aren’t saying anything new.”

Evelyn grunted and chugged her coffee. Helen raised an eyebrow as she refilled the mug and downed it just as quickly. After pouring a third cup, Evelyn finally drifted back over to sit at the table.

“You know, if you drink coffee like that all the time, one of these days, your heart’s going to explode.”

“Gotta have one first.” Evelyn rubbed at her eyes before leaning forward to study the monitors. “Any more signs of radiation spikes?”

Helen decided to pass over Evelyn’s self-deprecation for the time being. “Nothing. What kind of levels will he have to emit before you can detect him from here?”

“I’m going to go with at least 300 mSv. Like I said, this is a jury-rigged system - we’re gonna need to fine-tune it. To put that in perspective, you get various medical tests, you’re at anywhere between 1-20 mSv. Which, incidentally, brings up another point,” Evelyn added. “Incinerator put out close to 800 mSv on that last spike. I wouldn’t be surprised if people who have come into contact with him start turning up with radiation poisoning.”

Helen’s thoughts immediately flashed to Lucius. “At what point does the radiation exposure become deadly?”

Evelyn met her worried gaze. “Thinking of Frozone? It’s hard to say. For a normal person, being close to Incinerator during that spike would possibly have made them nauseous, may have some long term side effects. Supers? Who knows. Your bodies are bizarre. You’ll need a biologist to help you with that one, which I am not.”

“But it could be dangerous to anybody that gets close to him.”

“Oh, absolutely. Particularly if it’s tied to his power in such a way that it’s amplified by sustained use. Which means we have some serious work to do on your suit.”

“My suit?” Helen frowned. “What are you planning to do with that?”

“I’m guessing it’s already designed to withstand a fair amount of damage, am I right?”

“More than that Galbacki rubbish you saddled me with.”

“Blame my brother for that one - he wanted ‘Elastigirl,’ not ‘Mrs. Incredible.’ Something, something, nostalgia, sex appeal.”

Helen choked slightly on her own coffee. “Excuse me?”

“Point being, I’m sure Edna Mode was a little more concerned with functionality. But as it stands, the suit can only protect you from whatever physical damage it can absorb. Radiation damage is a different ball game.”

“I’m impressed you thought all this through already - I might almost think you care.”

Evelyn gave her a cold smile. “Until we nail this bastard, Winston is in danger, and he doesn’t have superpowers to protect himself. He just has me. Which means I have to keep your skin in one piece until Incinerator is taken out. Now,” she pulled out a large notepad, “let’s head to the lab. I’ve got some tinkering to do.”

#

Helen felt strange wandering E’s lab without her, and without the explosions and other firey demonstrations that always seemed to accompany trips here. She moved slowly through the lab, not touching anything.

Evelyn had no such inhibitions. As soon as Helen had opened the security door, she’d started bringing the fabricators online with easy familiarity. Helen watched her in silence for several minutes before attempting to restart the conversation. She’d already been bitten a few times, but dammit, she and Evelyn had gotten on well before Evelyn had turned on her, and Helen wanted to recapture at least some of the easy working relationship, if only to make the next few days bearable.

“How did you know to look for Incinerator’s radiation?”

“I didn’t. Not specifically, anyway. I was monitoring for a few different things.”

“But what made you think there would be anything to monitor for?”

“You.” Evelyn glanced over at Helen. “When I had you hypnotized, I hooked you up to all kinds of medical monitors. Already found out the hard way with the pizza guy that somebody with sleep apnea might just stop breathing under hypnosis. I didn’t know what it would do to you over a long enough period, and I couldn’t have you dying on me before I finished my plan.”

Helen wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, and was thankfully saved from having to try when Evelyn kept talking.

“When I had you in the containment freezer, and again when you fought Mr. Incredible, you experienced big localized temperature spikes while using - or trying to use - your powers. Some sort of molecular reaction similar to a rubber band stretching, I assumed, so that got me thinking. I took a blood sample after the fight and a few other times, including when you were fully relaxed. I don’t know if you know this or not, but your blood chemistry changes substantially before you use your powers. It’s ... well, it’s got to do with your system prepping for strain-induced crystallization, I think. Not important. The key thing there is ‘before.’ However your powers work, your body gears up for it before you actually use them. I took a stab at other Supers’ powers having the same quirk.”

“You’re very ... thorough,” Helen said carefully.

“If you’re fishing for an apology you aren’t going to get it,” Evelyn replied. “In any case, you should be glad I’m curious and can’t leave well enough alone, because now we have a pretty good idea about how to track this guy.”

“I’m not trying to start a fight.” Helen pulled up a stool next to the fabricator. “So back to the radioactivity, how exactly am I going to avoid getting dosed?”

Evelyn tapped out several rapid commands on the fabricator’s control screen, and the big machine whirred to life. “I’m assembling a wearable regulator ... it’s basically going to push a stabilized isotope field around you to counter the radiation. I would still limit your exposure when possible. Really, if you can just punch him from across the street, that’s probably your best bet.”

“I’d like nothing better.” Helen nodded at the notepad Evelyn had laid out. “So are you planning on making any more modifications?”

“Yes. Now go away and let me work. I can’t concentrate with you hovering. You’re as bad as Winston.”

 _Well that could have gone better,_ Helen reflected as she retreated from the lab. _On the other hand, it probably could have gone a whole lot worse._

She found a phone and dialed the Agency switchboard. They transferred her call to Lucius’s room, but according to his nurse he was asleep, and Honey had gone home to to refresh and get a few hours of sleep herself. Helen left a cryptic message for Lucius that she hoped he’d be able to decipher, letting him know where she was. 

Part of her wanted to go back to their temporary house, but Helen knew it was just wishful thinking that Bob would have gone there. Besides, while she knew she’d have to leave Evelyn on her own eventually, she wasn’t totally comfortable with the idea yet. She couldn’t call Edna - they had decided the kids would be safer if Helen didn’t know anything about their location. E had promised to contact her in a few days once a secure line could be set up, but until then, Helen had to be patient.

Evelyn had a feed from her monitoring system with her in the lab, but Helen took up a post in front of the screens anyway for lack of anything better to do. She felt a bit like she was back in college, exiled to the library or the common room after her roommate hung a sock on the door, and couldn’t help snickering at the comparison.

She was just considering returning to the lab to drag Evelyn up for dinner when the other woman reappeared with an armful of papers and what looked like a wristwatch.

“Put that on.” Evelyn tossed her the device. Helen examined it carefully. It was a lot heavier than it looked.

“Completely passive activation. It will start working when it detects radiation bursts above 50 mSv.”

“I’m not sure I’ll be able to wear any kind of bracelet or wristband - it’ll slip off when I stretch my arm.”

“Give it a try.” Evelyn’s tone was utterly confident. Helen strapped the device on her wrist and extended her arm. She felt a slight pressure on either side of her wrist, and the device didn’t budge. As soon as she relaxed her arm, the pressure vanished.

She glanced up at Evelyn. “Ok, that’s neat. What did you do?”

“Electromagnets on either side of the band. They engage based on body temperature spikes and tighten to hold it in place.” Evelyn pulled up a chair across the table from Helen. “Your bike is in the fabricator now.”

“You’re making another Elasticycle?”

“Yeah. I made a few upgrades to this one. I was flying blind last time, designing off old archive notes. Now that I’ve watched you in person, I have a better idea of what will work for you.”

“Cool. Thanks,” Helen said.

“Don’t bother. I’m not doing this out of the goodness of my heart.”

“Because you don’t have one?” Helen replied sharply. Evelyn glanced up from her notebook in surpise, and Helen thought she saw the slightest hint of a smile before Evelyn looked away.

“That’s right.”

“Well, I don’t really care. Thank you anyway.” Helen retreated to the kitchen to start making dinner. She briefly considered running the menu by Evelyn before deciding it didn’t really matter. If Evelyn wanted something different, she could cook it herself.

Helen raided Edna’s fridge and threw together some stir fry, along with a can of soup. When she turned away from the stove, she nearly dropped the pan in surprise when she found Evelyn perched on the counter watching her.

“Don’t do that!” 

“No super senses, huh?” Evelyn shrugged. “Anyway, I want to go over a few things, make sure I haven’t overlooked anything you’re going to need. The sooner we get you out there the better.”

“Agreed.” Helen dished out the food and handed Evelyn a plate. 

“First off, the bike - I added a few stabilizers, improved the shocks ... there’s a small fuel engine now, based on a modified jet turbine. It’s got an afterburner, so if you seriously need to get somewhere in a hurry, you can, although I’d save that for emergencies and drive on the electric motor. Oh, and I added a remote drive feature.”

“Like the Incredibile?”

“Not exactly. That’s a pretty sophisticated AI - you don’t have room on a bike for a computer that can handle something like that. Yours is more of a souped-up remote control. You can drive the bike with the controller I’ll give you - has a screen connected to the bike’s onboard cameras - or you can pass it off to whoever’s running the control room in the event that you have to abandon it during a mission.”

“That could be useful.”

“Obviously it can only do so much, but this way we can at least try to save the bike. I don’t have time to keep building you new ones after you throw them into mountains and blow them up.”

Helen laughed. “You have no idea how mad I was when I had to do that. I hadn’t driven a motorcycle in years - I was having so much fun!”

This time, she was sure she saw Evelyn smile. “Well, try not to kill this one.”

They were silent for a few minutes as they dug into the stir fry. Helen reflected that Dash would have been complaining about all the vegetables in it and felt a pang in her chest. She hoped the kids weren’t giving Edna too hard of a time.

“So I take it Mr. Incredible has the family again?” Evelyn’s thoughts had obviously run on parallel lines.

“No, Bob’s ... working. The kids are out of town.”

Evelyn narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, and Helen studiously avoided her gaze. She didn’t really want an avowed Super-hater digging into what, exactly, Bob was doing at the moment, temporary partnership notwithstanding. Fortunately, Evelyn didn’t push it.

“Anyway, so the bike is sorted. The radiation thing is as sorted as it’s going to be for now. I was kinda thinking I should whip up some kind of full face mask - gonna guess the super suit is flame resistant, but your head’s unprotected.”

“It won’t help.” Helen grimaced. “Incinerator’s pyrokinetic, but the flames don’t come out of his hands or eyes. He wills things to catch on fire and they do.”

Evelyn let out a long whistle. “That’s unfortunate.”

Helen nodded. “The only good news is that it appears to take him a fair amount of concentration with living things. Not long, but he can’t just have a passing thought and ignite you like he can with inanimate objects.”

“So the trick is to keep moving and keep him too busy to focus.”

“Pretty much. If he catches you off guard, though, you’re done for.”

“Hmm.” Evelyn tapped her fork against her lip. “Winston said Frozone was able to resist a lot of damage from Incinerator.”

“They assume it’s because of his cryokinesis.”

“Right. I’ll have to think on that. I might be able ...” she trailed off, lost in thought. Helen reached out and grabbed her fork when she started chewing on it.

“You’ll break your teeth.”

Evelyn snatched the fork back. “I can hear that I’m repeating myself -“

“I know, I know, no mothering. I have three children. Old habits die hard. Sue me.”

“Don’t tempt me.” Evelyn shook her head. “So right now, we can’t protect you from the fire. You don’t need any sort of helmet for the bike - incidentally, can you get shot? I know blunt force trauma’s not really an issue for you.”

Helen eyed her suspiciously. “Ok, first off, are you back to trying to kill me? And secondly, how do you know that?”

“Makes sense, given your power set. Also, I whacked you on the head a couple of times while I had you hypnotized, trying to knock you out. Didn’t do much. Your skull just bent around the force.”

“I ... don’t really know where to go with that. Why?”

“Partly just to see if I could. Mostly because I needed to know my backup options if you somehow overcame the hypnosis,” Evelyn said matter-of-factly.

Helen decided this was probably the strangest conversation she’d ever had. “That’s ... uncomfortable.”

“What can I say, I’m thorough. And for the record,” Evelyn said dryly, “I’m not actively trying to kill you. Gotta know how you can be hurt before I can know what to protect you from.”

“That probably sounded better in your head.”

“No, it sounded a little psycho when I thought of it too, but that doesn’t make it any less true.”

Helen pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. “I see why Winston’s the one that deals with people.”

#

By the time Evelyn disappeared back into the lab after dinner, Helen was feeling cautiously optimistic. They’d managed to put together a list of helpful additions to Helen’s gear. She felt a bit bad about the fact that Evelyn was obviously planning to pull another all-nighter to complete the gadgets, and then had to laugh at herself, because she could hear Bob’s incredulous reaction to feeling sorry for Evelyn Deavor for any reason. 

“Love you, Bob,” she whispered to thin air. “Stay safe, wherever you are.”

Helen dragged one of the couches into the dining room so she could keep an eye on the monitors and curled up with a book she’d chosen at random from E’s library. 

She must have still been more tired than she’d realized, because the next thing Helen knew, she was startled awake by somebody shaking her arm, hard.

“Elastigirl. Get up!” Evelyn’s hoarse voice cut through the fog of sleep in her head. “Incinerator’s at DevTech.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t look too closely at any of my science babbling in these chapters - it’s been a long time since I took any physics and engineering classes. And hey, superheroes with weird & unexplained abilities exist in this universe, so I guess I can technically handwave whatever science-y explanation I want. But I have tried to keep it reasonable. The molecular reaction of a rubber band thing is partially true - they do release heat when they stretch. Strain-induced crystallization is also a real concept - in oversimplified terms, it’s what happens when you stretch the rubber band too far and see it turn white, and it affects the strength and fatigue of the rubber. So the upshot of all that is, my science might be pretty terrible, but hopefully it at least sounds good.
> 
> Also sorry if the pseudo-science got a bit heavy in this chapter. Good news - they aren’t gonna have much time to sit around Edna’s anymore now that they have a bead on Incinerator.


	6. I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS

The cold night air shocked Helen fully into wakefulness as she sped away from Edna’s mansion. The new Elasticycle felt stable beneath her - whatever Evelyn had done to it had clearly paid off in the handling - and the engine gave a throaty scream as she reached the highway and gunned it. 

It felt undeniably great to be back on the bike, and in spite of the grave situation Helen couldn’t help the little thrill of excitement that ran through her. She hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed all this until the Deavors had come crashing into her life.

As she dodged the few vehicles on the road, the Elasticycle’s comm dinged, and she thumbed the switch to open the channel with Evelyn.

“I’m monitoring the security feeds from DevTech. He hasn’t entered the building yet - or set it on fire - but he’s definitely there.”

“Is anybody in the building?” Helen asked.

“There’s a security office on the second floor. Usually 3-4 night staff.” She could hear Evelyn typing in the background. “They’re supposed to be walking around keeping an eye on the place, but honestly, everything is wired up with cameras ... five’ll get you ten they’re all in the office eating donuts. Hang on ... Yep, there they are.”

“Can you get them out?”

Evelyn snorted. “What, they get a call from an unknown number at 3:00 AM claiming to be the wayward C.O.O. telling them to evacuate the building and you think they’ll just go?”

Helen gave an exasperated sigh. “Remind me why I thought you’d be helpful again?”

“Look between your legs.” There was a beat of silence. “Oh you know what I mean.”

“Given that it is three in the morning and I am on my way to confront a dangerous lunatic, I’m just going to let that go.” She heard more tapping from Evelyn’s keyboard.

“Probably for the best. I can’t pick up Incinerator on the cameras yet, and I can’t get a precise location from the Geiger readings, just the general area. If we tell them to leave, they might walk straight in- fuck. Elastigirl, we’ve got a problem.”

“What?”

“Incinerator’s not alone.”

“Fantastic.” Helen saw the road signs for the waterfront and cut a sharp turn onto the exit ramp. “Another Super?”

“Nah, looks like garden-variety thugs, but there are a bunch of them and they’re loaded for bear.” The tinny sound of an alarm came through the headset. “Security just saw them and triggered an alert. Be right back.”

The line cut off before Helen could respond. She briefly wondered if Evelyn was planning on leaving her hanging, but she didn’t have too much time to seriously consider it before the comm reactivated. 

“I called the security office and told them to get to the panic room and keep their heads down. Pretty sure they’d only get in your way at this point. Unless you want cannon fodder, in which case I can send them back out.”

“Very funny.” Helen throttled the Elasticycle back. “By the way, I don’t think Incinerator’s just here to torch your building.”

“Probably not.” Evelyn paused. “At first I thought he might have come to get information on where Winston and I are, but he doesn’t need a gang of armed guards for that.”

“Maybe he thought you had a lot more security guys on the premises.”

“Why would we? It’s a telecommunications company, not the Pentagon. We’re in a lot more danger from corporate espionage than an all-out physical attack. Except for now, of course.”

Helen’s brain snagged on Evelyn’s words. “Say that again.”

“What, ‘except for now’?”

“No, the bit before that, about -“

“Corporate espionage.” She could almost hear the gears turning in Evelyn’s head. “You think they’re here to steal something?”

“Evelyn, what happened to all the Screenslaver equipment?”

“A fair amount got blown up at the apartment complex.”

“But not all of it. You were still controlling us on the ship. And I seriously doubt you blew up your only copies of all your research and schematics.”

“You know me too well,” Evelyn said. “Any notes I had on the project are backed up to DevTech’s mainframe - behind some hefty security firewalls, of course.”

Helen furrowed her brow. “Not that it means much, because a lot of Supers go out of their way to keep any secondary powers or abilities hidden, but I’ve yet to hear about Incinerator being any sort of tech wizard. At the risk of inflating your already excessive ego, is he really in any danger of breaking through your security?”

Evelyn started laughing. “Aw thanks, Elastigirl, I’m so flattered.”

Helen’s fingers twitched with the sudden urge to slap the other woman, and she had to remind herself that Edna’s house was too far away, even for her.

“In answer to your question, no. I’d be very surprised if he could crack the system under pressure during a robbery attempt. However, that’s not the only way to steal data, and I suspect it’s why he brought a small army. They’re going to rip out the entire mainframe. I’m sure there’s somebody in the world who can break through the security eventually, given enough time and motivation.”

“Perfect,” Helen deadpanned. “We’ll have yet another murderous villain hypnotizing people.”

“Hey now, I was selectively murderous with a defined goal. This dude, on the other hand ...”

“Yeah, let’s stop the robbery now and debate your relative place on the scale of villainy later.”

Three blocks out from DevTech, Helen pulled over. “I’m leaving the Elasticycle here and going in quietly. If I can surprise Incinerator, maybe we can shut this whole thing down.”

“Maybe.” The doubt in Evelyn’s voice was obvious. “But Elastigirl, you have to keep that technology out of his hands.”

Helen stretched her arms to haul herself up onto the roof of a nearby building. “What, you’re suddenly developing a conscience? Or is that fear talking - don’t want to be on the receiving end of your own invention?”

“I wanted to keep Supers illegal, not exterminate them. If Incinerator figures out how to uses my hypnosis technology, a whole lot of people are going to die.”

Keeping to the shadows, Helen anchored her hands to the building’s facade and drew herself back in a slingshot. She sailed across the empty lot below and landed soundlessly atop the office building across the street from DevTech.

“Am I going up or down?” she whispered.

“My lab’s in the basement. There’s a sub level below that, which is where the mainframe is housed. They’re probably going to try to bring it out through the parking garage.” Evelyn was quiet for a few moments. “There’s a balcony on the fifth floor leading to the employee break room. You can get in there if you’re trying to go quietly.”

Helen located the balcony and made another slingshot jump to reach it. The door to the break room was unlocked, and she slipped into the darkened room. She’d learned pretty early on in her hero career that office buildings were creepy places at night, and DevTech was no exception. Something about a place that should be bustling with activity being silent and empty always gave her chills. Ears straining for any sound of the intruders, she stole quickly through the building to the fire escape stairwell.

“Psst. Is an alarm going to go off if I open this door?”

She heard more clicking over the line. “I’ve deactivated the fire alarm system. Which seems stupid with Incinerator in the building, now that I’ve said that out loud.”

Despite the tension of the moment, Helen couldn’t help cracking a small smile. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I see anything on fire.”

“You’d better. If the building burns down and they see the system offline, our insurance adjuster will raise Cain.”

Despite Evelyn’s assurance, Helen couldn’t help screwing up her face as she pushed the door open, half expecting an alarm to blare, but everything stayed quiet. She descended the stairwell to the bottom and frowned when she saw the doorway marked “Basement.”

“Does the fire escape not go to the sub basement?”

“No, security trumps zoning. Besides, nobody works down there - the only time there’s a live person in the sub level is if one of the mainframe computers needs physical maintenance.”

“So how do I get down there?”

“There’s another stairwell two doors down from my- shit, they’re heading down to the lab. A bunch of them just got in the elevator.”

“Can you trap them in there?”

“I can stop the elevator, but they’re gonna know somebody’s here, and I can’t tell if Incinerator is in that group or not. They’re all in tactical gear.”

“Damn it,” Helen whispered. “Fine, let ‘em go for now. We can always trap them on the way back up if all else fails.” She crouched in the stairwell and lowered her head to the floor, flattening the side of her face to peer through the gap under the door. The basement was lit with a series of dim emergency lights, and she could just make out the elevator doors at the end of the hall. They opened with a cheerful _ding_ , and she saw several pairs of black combat boots. 

“Ok, I’m going to follow these guys down to the sub level. If I get close to them, you can pinpoint which one is Incinerator, right?”

“Probably.”

“Well that certainly fills me with confidence about this plan,” Helen said irritably. 

“If they stay clumped together, it’ll be hard. If they spread out, I should be able to point you in the right direction.”

“Fine.” Helen thought for a moment. “I can’t talk to you once I’m out there, so I’ll hold a hand in front of my camera - one finger up is ‘yes,’ two is ‘no.’”

“We’ll have to work on that later. It’ll do for now.”

Helen took a deep breath and slipped under the door.

#

Evelyn jerked her head away from the monitor she was watching as the picture rolled alarmingly. A second later she was seeing the inside of DevTech’s lab, and she realized Elastigirl must have stretched under the door. 

“That is so weird,” she muttered. The picture shifted slightly, and Evelyn suspected Elastigirl had either shrugged or laughed.

She glanced at the three-dimensional blueprint of the basement she’d pulled up on another monitor. “Ok, the doors on the left side of the hallway are offices. The door on the right will take you into the lab. My office is along the south wall, and the stairwell is two doors down from it.”

Elastigirl’s camera drifted smoothly down the hallway. Evelyn could see the door to the lab was already open, and when Elastigirl peered into the lab, they could see several shadowy figures moving around. They were opening drawers and looking through papers.

“Should be seven guys down there.” Evelyn realized she’d unconsciously started whispering. There was no real reason to, since nobody would be able to overhear Elastigirl’s in-ear comm without putting their head directly next to hers, but it was hard to shake the feeling of needing to hide.

The camera view lurched again, the angle shifting to look down on the intruders. Elastigirl had stretched herself up onto the ceiling, Evelyn realized. She saw one of the shadowed figures pause briefly, head cocked, but he resumed searching almost immediately. 

“Careful. One of those dudes might have heard something when you moved.”

One of the figures eventually moved to the doors along the back wall. Evelyn’s office door was locked, but the intruder merely put a fist through the glass window in the door and unlocked it. It didn’t take him long to search the office, mostly because everything of value was already with Evelyn, thanks to Winston. She made a mental note to buy him a case of his favorite beer.

Another of the intruders opened the door to the stairwell and called the others over. They all vanished down the stairs, and the camera view dropped back to floor level as Elastigirl followed them. Evelyn caught herself clicking her pen repeatedly and forced herself to drop it on the desk. 

When Elastigirl reached the bottom of the stairs, Evelyn saw the intruders grouped around the mainframe computers. One of them was unbolting the big cabinets from the floor, and Evelyn frowned. She’d been expecting them to rip the hard drives out. Still, she supposed this made life a lot easier - she could simply lock down the freight elevator once they were inside.

Elastigirl’s hand waved in front of the camera before pointing to members of the group one at a time, and Evelyn realized she was asking which one was Incinerator. 

“I don’t know yet. I told you, when they’re all huddled together like that, I can’t distinguish remotely. Your suit sensors are picking up radiation, though, so we were right - he’s here and he’s radioactive even without his power use.”

The intruder with the wrench straightened up. “That’s all of them, Boss.”

“Excellent.” Incinerator’s voice was deep and resonant. Evelyn watched the group carefully and spotted the lift of his shoulders as he took another breath. 

“Gotcha,” she muttered. “It’s the tall dude in the back of-“

“I hope you’ve enjoyed the show, Elastigirl.”

Evelyn stiffened in shock, and she saw the camera view jerk as Elastigirl tensed up. 

“Unfortunately I don’t have time to deal with you tonight, but rest assured, I’ll see you again.”

Before either of them could say or do anything, the ceiling collapsed with a deafening roar. The camera view went dark as Elastigirl was buried under a massive pile of debris. Her microphone was still transmitting, and Evelyn could hear shouting and what sounded like large machinery running, but she couldn’t get a good look - the lab’s camera system must have been torn out by the explosion. She switched to the external building feeds and was relieved to find DevTech mostly in tact, although there was a gaping hole in the side of the building facing the parking lot.

Evelyn couldn’t help but be a little impressed when she saw the mainframe cabinets being hoisted out with a large crane. Incinerator had planned this heist to a T.

The last cabinet came up with the masked robbers clinging to it, and they started loading a nearby van. Evelyn switched back over to Elastigirl’s feed.

“Hey, Elastigirl, you still with me? Talk to me.”

She heard coughing and the grinding of concrete, and the camera lurched again. A dust-covered glove came into view.

“Great ... doin’ just great.” Elastigirl sounded completely wrecked. “I think I swallowed an entire floor’s worth of concrete dust.”

“I’m bringing the Elasticycle to the front of the building,” Evelyn said. She engaged the remote controls, and the bike roared to life. “If you can walk, you’ve gotta get up there and follow them - Incinerator’s leaving with the mainframe as we speak.”

She saw Elastigirl’s arms stretch out and grip the edge of the hole in the ground floor wall, and then the view rushed upward until she was looking out at the parking lot and the tail end of a van speeding away.

Evelyn kept one eye on the Elasticycle’s cameras as she brought up the external building cameras again. Elastigirl stood at the edge of the explosion radius, looking slightly dazed. Her auburn hair had turned ash grey from the rubble coating it, and she was sporting a deep cut above her left eye. As soon as the Elasticycle veered into the parking lot, however, she jumped on board without hesitation and tore out after the van.

The bike gained on the loaded van easily enough, but as soon as Elastigirl drew in range, two cars that had obviously been acting as escorts dropped back, and the passengers opened fire. They hit the freeway and the van opened up, the two cars sticking close behind.

Elastigirl dodged the shots and reached for the back of the van, but had to swerve away almost immediately when one of the henchmen leaned out and swung a spiked bat at her arm. She ducked as another one fired again, the bullet whistling close to her head.

Evelyn drummed her fingers on the table, eyes darting between the various screens. “Can you jump on top of the van?”

“Not -“ Elastigirl yanked the bike to one side. Evelyn saw another henchman reaching out of the chase car with a long pole he was attempting to ram into the bike’s spokes. “Not with these guys around.”

She jerked the handlebars again, and Evelyn saw the bike fishtail violently as the rear tire kissed the concrete median. Elastigirl was forced to drop back and wrestle the bike under control. 

“It’s no good. If I keep pushing it, I’m going to wreck.”

Evelyn scowled at the monitor. “We have to get that mainframe back. Give me the controls for the bike. I’ll concentrate on the driving, you concentrate on dodging these dickheads and getting that van.”

“So you can run me into oncoming traffic? No thanks.”

“Oh for god’s sake. Do you want them to get away?”

Elastigirl made another run at the van, and they both cursed as a bullet ricocheted uncomfortably close to the bike’s fuel tank. 

“You’re not just going to take over? I’m surprised you’re giving me a choice here,” Elastigirl said sarcastically. 

“It’s a dead man’s switch - I can only operate it when the saddle’s empty! Unless you _give me the controls!_ ”

“Excuse me if I’m hesitant here after everything that’s happened so far!”

“You’re doing a hundred miles an hour down the freeway on a bike I designed and built! It’s a little late to be worried about this!” Evelyn snapped. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“Yeah, tried that before, look where it got me.”

“Helen. Give me the controls.”

There was a long silence on the line before Elastigirl cursed again, and suddenly the console in front of Evelyn came to life. She grabbed the joystick.

“If you kill me with this, I will haunt you forever.”

“Duly noted.”

#

Evelyn was a wild driver, and if she wasn’t extraordinarily resistant to crush damage, Helen’s heart might have stopped a few times as they weaved closer to the van. 

Still, without having to concentrate on steering the bike, Helen was able to dodge the attempts to unseat her. She stretched a hand out and grabbed the pole they’d been trying to stuff in her tires and hurled it like a javelin through the open driver’s side window of the other chase car. The driver’s hands jerked the wheel reflexively as he was struck, and the car spun out and smashed into the guardrail.

With only one chase car remaining, Evelyn swerved the bike to the opposite side of the van and pulled close enough for Helen to catch hold and pull herself onto the roof. She flattened down immediately to avoid being thrown off and was stretching a hand down towards the door when she felt an odd pricking sensation across her body.

“Oh, shit.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Evelyn sounded tense, and Helen realized she was still piloting the riderless Elasticycle alongside the van.

“I think Incinerator’s in the van and trying to set me on fire!” Helen could definitely feel her skin heating up.

She nearly lost her grip on the van when a loud boom echoed from the bike. The van wobbled beneath her as the odd sensations on her skin vanished, and Helen realized the driver and Incinerator must have been equally startled by the loud noise.

“What was that?”

“Insurance. Hold on.”

The bike pulled ahead of the van, and Helen thought she saw something silvery fall from the saddlebags. A moment later there were two loud pops, and the van yawed wildly as its front tires exploded. Sparks flew up from either side where the rims hit the pavement, and Helen had to wrap her legs around the body of the van to avoid being flung ahead of it into the road. 

Evelyn was shouting in her ear, and it took her a moment to decipher the words.

“Get back on the bike and get the hell out of there!”

Helen dragged herself over to the idling Elasticycle, and as soon as she dropped into the seat the bike took off. “What about the mainframes?”

“Your chase attracted police attention - they’re on their way. Incinerator’s going to have to run for it, and with the van disabled, they have no way to haul the mainframes. The police will recover them and Winston will get them back.”

Helen slumped against the handlebars. “Well that didn’t really go according to plan.”

“Hey, my tech isn’t in the hands of a crazy Super, which is a win for me. And nobody’s dead, except maybe those idiots in the first chase car, which I assume is a win for you. And we learned some things. Now, we go back to the drawing board.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you that came out for the Hevelyn ship: sorry for your wait - it’s in the works, but it’ll be an uphill climb. These two were not in a good place at the end of I2. It’s gonna take time for them to build back up to a comfortable working relationship, let alone more. In the immortal words of Bob - we’ll get there when we get there!
> 
> Speaking of Bob, to those of you who stan one (1) super power couple: I feel you, dudes, and I solemnly swear I am not here to trash the Parrs’ relationship. I’ve loved ‘em for fourteen years, I still love ‘em, and I plan to do right by ‘em.
> 
> Can I reconcile those two things? I’d like to think so, but y’all will be the judges in the end :)


	7. CAN’T SEE EYE TO EYE UNTIL YOU GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE

“I just can’t figure out how he knew I was there!” Helen’s indignant voice pierced the fluffy cotton in her head, and Evelyn struggled to focus. Days of insufficient rest and hangovers were catching up to her. She’d been half asleep in the lab when her monitoring system had informed her of Incinerator’s arrival at DevTech, and now that the rush of adrenaline from his attack had faded, her exhaustion had come crashing back down on her like a ton of bricks.

Fortunately for their mission goals, Elastigirl had managed to clear out before Incinerator was able to take another shot at spontaneous human combustion. Unfortunately for Evelyn, Helen wasn’t running on a severe sleep deficiency and wanted to break down the mission details as soon as she returned to Edna’s.

Evelyn fumbled for her mug and took another bracing sip of coffee. She knew she wasn’t contributing much to this impromptu brainstorming session, and a big part of her wanted to slink off to the nearest flat surface and collapse, but a residual stubbornness about showing any sort of weakness in front of a Super kept her mostly upright at the table.

“... and the firework charge was a great idea, but as far as distracting him enough to keep from getting burnt, I don’t think the same trick will work twice ...”

Helen’s words floated oddly in Evelyn’s brain, almost making sense, but not quite. She took an even bigger sip of her coffee, trying to force her mind to cooperate, and then scowled as she realized her own thoughts. _When did she become Helen again? When you decided to help her, of course. That wasn’t helping her, that was saying what I needed to get that mainframe back. Sure ..._

__She was pulled out of her internal debate when Helen grabbed the coffee pot and poured herself a mug._ _

__“Hey, you might not -“_ _

__“ _Bleurgh._ ” Helen spit her mouthful of coffee back into the cup and stared at it in revulsion. “What on earth did you do to this?”_ _

__Evelyn screwed her eyes shut as a headache began announcing its presence and gestured vaguely toward the counter. She heard Helen’s footsteps, followed by fingers tapping against glass._ _

__“You put bourbon in your coffee. At ... nope, it’s not even the crack of dawn yet.”_ _

__“Hair of the dog.”_ _

__“Clearly you’re in no shape to be having a conversation right now.” Helen sounded exasperated, and Evelyn thought about protesting, but she was starting to see bright lights at the corners of her vision._ _

__She was startled out of her daze a moment later when she felt an arm wrap firmly around her waist and drag her to her feet._ _

__“I can walk, fuck off,” she muttered._ _

__“Oh really?” The arm disappeared, and Evelyn swayed alarmingly. She made a grab for the edge of the table and missed, but before she could completely unbalance, the arm was back. “Yep, you’ve got it totally under control.”_ _

__“Fuck you.”_ _

__“You wish,” Helen said lightly. “Now come on, let’s get you to a bed before you pass out, and I’ll repeat everything I just said when you’re awake and sober.”_ _

__“Be waiting a while for that last one,” Evelyn muttered. She wasn’t sure if Helen hadn’t heard her or had chosen to ignore her, but the other woman stayed quiet as they lurched down the hall. As soon as they reached the guest room, Evelyn pulled out of Helen’s grasp and flopped down sideways across the bed._ _

__“Um, don’t you want to -“_ _

__“No. Go ‘way.” Evelyn buried her face in the duvet and tuned Helen out. Her scattered thoughts were getting harder to hold on to, and she could feel herself losing her grip on conciousness. She didn’t react to a sudden weight on her shoulders. Helen said something, but it was lost to her as Evelyn finally checked out._ _

__#_ _

__When Evelyn woke, her eyes were gluey, and it took a few moments of rubbing at them before she could manage to read the clock on the night stand. It was almost seven, and she made a disgruntled noise as she realized she’d lost an entire day. She went to stretch and found that, although she was still sprawled crossways on the bed, her shoes had been removed and a blanket was draped across her._ _

__“Damn heroes,” she muttered._ _

__Her duffle bag was still on the dresser where she’d left it the previous day, and she dug through several layers of collared shirts before she found a plain black hoodie and slacks. She wasn’t much for casual clothing, but the remains of her headache were still making themselves known, and she felt the all-over body pains she’d come to associate with one too many benders, so Evelyn decided comfort trumped put-togetherness for the time being._ _

__She had to hand it to Helen - as on-the-run accommodations went, Edna Mode’s house was top of the line. The bed, from what little she’d experienced of it, was insanely comfortable, and Evelyn would happily kill for the bathroom. She spent a good ten minutes standing under the hot water in the shower studying all the gadgets, including the multi-directional shower heads and built-in steam diffusers. She might, she was willing to admit, have overlooked some possibilities in her push to be at work almost 24-7. If nothing else, she could take a page from Edna’s book and install a lab in her home._ _

__When she made her way to the living room, Helen was curled up in an overstuffed armchair watching the local news. Evelyn was tempted to creep in and try to startle her again, but the memory of the blanket twinged a little piece of conscience she didn’t realize she had left. She scuffled her foot slightly on the carpet as she moved toward the couch, and Helen glanced around._ _

__“Well, you look a little more alive,” she said._ _

__Evelyn stretched out on the couch, rolling her head to the side so she could keep an eye on the TV. “You shouldn’t have let me sleep that long.”_ _

__“Leaving aside the fact that you’d probably try to bite my head off if I came and woke you up, you definitely needed the rest.”_ _

__She could hear the smile in Helen’s voice, and Evelyn refused to give her the satisfaction of looking. “So what have you been up to all day while I’ve been out of commission?”_ _

__“I actually went down to the Agency for a bit to see Frozone. He’s doing better - they may send him home in a few days.”_ _

__“That’s ... Good. That’s good. Glad to hear it,” Evelyn said stiffly._ _

__Helen snorted quietly. “For a super villain, you’re a pretty bad liar.”_ _

__“Look, I’m glad your friend wasn’t murdered, because that sucks.” Evelyn clenched her jaw tightly enough to hurt, determined not to let her emotions run away with her._ _

__There was a painfully empty silence for several minutes before Helen spoke again._ _

__“I need to apologize for that.”_ _

__Evelyn lifted her head to look at Helen, but the other woman wouldn’t meet her gaze. She picked at a loose thread in her jeans, utterly focused on anything but Evelyn._ _

__“In my line of work, it’s a whole lot easier to see everything in black and white. To put people in boxes - if they disagree, they aren’t a person, just an obstacle.”_ _

__“That’s how you protect yourself.” Evelyn shifted uncomfortably. She’d sort of figured they were going to have to discuss what had passed between them at some point, but she was seriously unprepared for it now. Helen seemed to sense her reluctance._ _

__“It is. But I also have to remember that other people’s perspectives are shaped by their experiences, just like mine. Nothing happens in a vacuum.” She shook her head slightly. “Anyhow. I’m sorry for speaking thoughtlessly. Now. Should I see about making dinner? I’m guessing you’re hungry after missing breakfast and lunch?”_ _

__“I could eat.”_ _

__“I’ll see what else Edna’s got in her fridge. I meant to put a roast in the oven earlier, but I got a little distracted watching the news coverage. They’re kind of going in circles since there’s no one from DevTech to interview ...”_ _

__“Shit, I probably need to call Winston.”_ _

__While Helen cooked, Evelyn made her way down to the lab. She wanted a modicum of privacy while talking to her brother, but she also needed something to keep her hands occupied. She dialed his number and grabbed her sketch book._ _

__“Hello, you’ve reached Winston Deavor. I’m probably in a meeting, so leave a message at the tone! Have a super day!”_ _

__Evelyn rolled her eyes and waited for the answering machine to start recording. “Winston, I know you’re there. Pick up the damn phone.”_ _

__“ _Evie?_ ” She yanked the phone away from her ear as he practically shouted into it._ _

__“Yes, it’s me, take it down about twenty notches.” She heard a low constant hiss over the line, accompanied by the sound of gulls. “Are you at the beach house?”_ _

__“Hey, if I have to be out of town, might as well make a business trip of it.”_ _

__“You’re supposed to be in hiding, Winston!” Evelyn dropped her forehead onto the table with a loud thump. “When Incinerator finds you, I’m going to put ‘died of exposure’ on your tombstone.”_ _

__Winston chuckled. “You’re supposed to be in hiding too, and yet I got a funny call from my chief of security this morning. Something about “Ms. Deavor” and Elastigirl and a two-story hole in the side of my building.”_ _

__“Our building. And I had nothing to do with the hole in it.”_ _

__“Well, I got the mainframe back. And I’m glad you decided to help Elastigirl.”_ _

__Evelyn’s lip twitched in distaste. “I decided to try to save your dumb ass from what’s coming for you.”_ _

__“Love you too, Evie.” She heard what sounded like ice cubes in a glass and the low murmur of conversation. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do while you save the world.”_ _

__She managed to hang up the phone before letting out a small shriek of frustration and hurling the handset at the wall. Damn Winston and his irrepressible salesman drive._ _

__A quiet taping made her turn. Helen was standing in the doorway with a plate of tacos in one hand and a raised eyebrow._ _

__“Everything ok down here?”_ _

__“Fine.” Evelyn raked her fingers through her hair. “Just my brother being himself.”_ _

__“Do you want to talk about it?”_ _

__“Nope.” Evelyn made a grab for one of the tacos as Helen walked by, but she merely stretched her arm out on the opposite direction. “Ok, that’s unfair.”_ _

__“Again, three children, one of whom has super speed. I’m very good at protecting the food until it’s ready to be served.” Helen set the plate down at Edna’s work table and gestured. “Put the sketch pad down and eat. You have all night to kill yourself working.”_ _

__Evelyn grumbled under her breath, but the tacos did smell good. They settled awkwardly across from each other, Helen cutting small pieces off her taco while Evelyn inhaled hers. She watched Helen out of the corner of her eye, noting the lack of appetite and quiet. Helen’s normally expressive eyes were dull, and Evelyn found herself wondering._ _

__“So you didn’t really say the other day - where exactly is Mr. Incredible?”_ _

__She was pretty sure she saw Helen flinch._ _

__“He’s ... also out looking for Incinerator.”_ _

__“Hmm.” Evelyn leaned back in her chair. “Call me crazy, but this seems like something you two ought to be working together on.”_ _

__“Trust me when I say you probably don’t want Bob within a hundred yards of you right now.” Helen tried to smile, but Evelyn could read the unease in her expression._ _

__“That’s not why you’re working apart, is it? Because of me?”_ _

__“No.” Helen’s lips compressed in a thin line, and Evelyn got the feeling she was a question or two shy of a punch in the face. She wasn’t exactly an expert on relationships, but clearly something was eating at Helen, and clearly that something had to do with her husband._ _

__“So is he-“_ _

__“Maybe we should go over what happened last night, while it’s still fresh in our minds, and now that you aren’t inebriated or otherwise impaired.”_ _

__A clear “back off” signal if ever there was one. Evelyn conceded defeat for the time being and beat a tactical retreat._ _

__“Fine. I think our number one problem is, how did he know we were there?”_ _

__Helen nodded emphatically. “I’m sure they didn’t see me following them.”_ _

__“Did they hear you? When you got up on the ceiling in the lab, I was watching your camera ... Incinerator definitely noticed something.”_ _

__“If it was Incinerator that noticed me all along ...” Helen trailed off. “I wonder ... he may have a secondary power after all.”_ _

__“What kind of power?”_ _

__“It’s hard to quantify, but something like a dangersense, something that lets him know when something hostile to him is in the area.”_ _

__Evelyn frowned. “Is that actually a thing? Because it sounds a little sci-fi.”_ _

__“Says the woman who manufactures cutting edge tech that can literally mind-control someone.”_ _

__“There’s science behind my tech. You’re just speculating.”_ _

__“Not entirely.” Helen gnawed at the inside of her cheek. “Bob ... has something like this. As you’ve noted, other than being able to reshape myself, I’m completely normal - no super senses or anything like that. But Bob can sense, somehow, when he’s in danger.”_ _

__Evelyn snagged a piece of paper and a pen. “Ok, tell me about this. Can he sense any kind of danger, or just people?” Her mind was already racing. If Incinerator really did have some sort of super sense, they were going to have to redraw their plan almost from scratch._ _

__Helen looked extremely uncomfortable. “For obvious reasons, we don’t shout this around a lot. I told you, a lot of Supers like to keep their secondary powers hidden.”_ _

__“Look on the bright side - I’ve escaped from custody. If I try to stab you in the back again, I’m pretty sure they’ll lock me up and throw away the key.”_ _

__“I wasn’t -“ Helen sighed. “About Bob - I’m not sure. I’ve seen him surprised before, so it’s not 100%, whatever ‘it’ is. Although I’ve never been able to surprise him, so-“_ _

__“Hang on.” Evelyn tapped her pen against her chin. “If this actually is a dangersense, you should be able to surprise him, since I doubt you mean him any harm.”_ _

__“You would think, wouldn’t you?” Helen shrugged. “We’ve never looked into it too deeply, to be honest. It’s just one of those things. A few Supers have it, most don’t. It’s not flashy or consistent enough for the Agency to find it worth studying.”_ _

__“Their mistake. But, what if it’s not a dangersense, as such - what if he’s sensing the body chemistry changes that occur in other nearby Supers? Some sort of hyper attuned sense of taste or smell?”_ _

__Helen closed her eyes and pressed her fingers into her temples. “I’m trying to think when I’ve noticed it working ... Oh! The night of our wedding, Bob interrupted a bank robbery while stopping a suicide jumper. He told me he knew something was wrong before the guy actually blew through the wall.”_ _

__“Was it a Super?”_ _

__“No, just an ordinary thief, an explosives expert.”_ _

__“That doesn’t necessarily disprove the theory. A burning fuse on a bomb is a pretty distinct chemical reaction of its own.”_ _

__“And he did get caught off guard by Syndrome’s robot - that’s how he got captured,” Helen said slowly._ _

__Throwing her pen down on the table, Evelyn tipped her head back and let out a frustrated bark of laughter. “Great. That’s just great. So not only are we chasing a guy that can set you on fire, we can’t sneak up on him because he can probably sense you coming.”_ _

__“Do you think there’s any way to block it? Mask whatever chemical signals I’m giving off?”_ _

__“Might be. But for that, we’d need your husband. I don’t know exactly how this works, and I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to field test it, given that you’ve been almost broiled once already.”_ _

__“Thanks for that mental image.” Helen glared at the wall like it had personally offended her. “Assuming that we can’t get ahold of Bob, or that we aren’t able to to block this dangersense ... what else can we do?”_ _

__“Drop you out of an airplane?” Evelyn suggested. Helen turned the glare on her, and she held up her hands. “Hey, I’m just saying, we’d basically have to keep you far enough away that he can’t sense you and then drop you next ... to him ...”_ _

__They both stared at each other for a long moment before speaking in unison._ _

__“ _VOYD!_ ”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost feel like I should put out a PSA at this point: please do not put bourbon in your coffee at 3AM. Actually, probably don’t drink coffee at 3AM unless you have a very odd work schedule. I definitely headcanon Evelyn as a (badly) functioning alcoholic. She seems like the type to self-medicate to avoid dealing with her issues. 
> 
> Also, Bob’s danger sense is a real movie thing. It’s in his NSA file.
> 
> Anyway. Yes, we’re getting closer to throwing some of the other characters back into the mix, although it may take a bit to find ‘em and bring ‘em on board.


	8. UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES I’VE BEEN SHOCKINGLY NICE

Evelyn threw herself into figuring out how exactly to counteract Incinerator’s super senses. As soon as she’d wolfed down the last bite of her taco, the sketch pad had come back out and she’d started a list of possible ways that Supers could be detected. A tiny part of her whispered that this had so many applications for tracking down Supers, and even countering their powers, but she ruthlessly tamped down on it. Time to live in the world she had, not the one she wanted. She’d taken her shot, and she’d failed, thanks to the woman sitting across from her.

Who was currently worrying her ever so slightly, if truth be told. Evelyn had expected Helen to either head back upstairs after dinner or keep batting ideas about Incinerator back and forth. What she hadn’t expected was for Helen to tuck herself into a corner with a book that she was only pretending to read and a glass of wine and ignore both of them in favor of staring blankly into a middle distance.

“Not to keep prodding a sore spot,” Evelyn said, “but can you get ahold of Mr. Incredible and get him over here? This whole process will go a lot faster if I can ask him some questions and test a few things out.”

Helen gave a slight shake of her head and focused on Evelyn. “Sorry, what?”

“I said, can you get Mr. Incredible -“

“Oh right, can I get Bob here.” Helen blinked a couple of times, looking a little lost as she considered the question. “He’s ... undercover while he works. His suit has a tracking beacon - they all do - but the last time I used it, the signal was intercepted and it caused some problems for him. I won’t do that again unless I have to.” Helen looked down at her book again, clearly disinclined to continue the conversation.

Having somebody standing by while she tried to work normally made Evelyn’s skin crawl, but Helen was so obviously a million miles away in her thoughts that it didn’t bother her as much as it should have.

Evelyn found herself trying to guess what had Helen so distracted. Judging by the aborted dinner conversation and the current discomfort, she would bet large amounts of Winston’s money that it had something to do with Mr. Incredible. She briefly entertained the idea that they were in the middle of a fight, but Helen didn’t seem angry, exactly. And then there was the bit about not wanting Mr. Incredible near her at the moment ...

Mentally berating herself, Evelyn pulled her mind back to her research. Helen Parr was no one to her. A reminder of the pointlessly stupid way her parents died, a means to an end, a way to keep Winston from getting himself killed, just-

Just a woman crying quietly to herself in a corner. Evelyn almost thought she’d imagined the tiny sniffle, but when she peeked at Helen out of the corner of her eye, she saw the slight blotchy redness to the nose & single tear track down the cheek that let her know Helen was obviously far more upset than she’d let on. Evelyn thought for a moment. Opened her mouth. Closed it almost immediately. Because really, this was so not her area. And she had no desire to let anyone cry on her shoulder, especially not Elastigirl.

She kept her head down and kept working, pretending not to notice when Helen slipped out the door a moment later. As soon as she was gone, however, Evelyn put her pencil down and blew out a long breath. 

Helen’s apology earlier in the evening had rattled her. Evelyn had rubbed shoulders with a lot of Supers in her younger days, before the Relocation Act, before her parents. Almost without exception, they were an arrogant bunch, wrapped up in their own sense of self-righteousness. She tried to imagine one of her father’s Super friends conceding that their world view wasn’t the only one and failed.

But then there was Helen. Elastigirl. Just as sure of herself and the rightness of her cause and the wrongness of everybody else. Until she wasn’t. 

Evelyn gritted her teeth. Fucking Supers, getting in her head. Making her wonder. Making her care, even the tiniest bit, about what was upsetting Helen. The obvious thing to do was to stay out of it. Whatever was going on with Helen was no business of hers. And really, it wasn’t like she was actually concerned.

 _Are you sure about that?_ her brain whispered. Evelyn scowled. _Pretty sure. I did try to kill her, after all._

 _You tried to kill Elastigirl,_ her extremely unhelpful brain pointed out. And that was the relevant thing here - she wasn’t working with Elastigirl any more. They’d had their moments at DevTech, but any time Evelyn had felt herself drifting, it had been easy to to shift her focus from cinnamon eyes to the black mask surrounding them, and all her anger and purpose had come boiling back to the surface.

Now that the mask and costume were stripped away, now that Elastigirl was becoming Helen, Evelyn found it harder and harder to summon up the vindictive hatred she had for the Supers.

Evelyn buried her face in her hands and growled. She needed more alcohol - a lot more - if she was going to ride this train of thought. She was still feeling the effects of her hangover, though, and she really couldn’t afford to lose another day. Her eyes skimmed the notes in front of her, waiting for something to jump out. 

She caught sight of the boxes she’d lugged down from the truck. Winston had packed up a lot of her files as well as her tools, and she suddenly wondered if he’d actually gone through them, or if her notes on the hypnotized Supers were still there. 

Three hours later, the room looked like a paper bomb had gone off, but Evelyn was armed with the file labeled “Mr. Incredible” and the beginnings of a plan.

#

Helen curled up in the middle of Edna’s oversized bed and finally let herself cry. The stresses of finding a way to beat Incinerator, missing her children, and worry over the safely of her fellow Supers were all weighing her down, but she’d been able to push them aside until Evelyn brought up the one thing she desperately did not want to think about.

When she’d visited Lucius earlier, Helen had confided some of her worry over Bob. Lucius had counseled patience.

“He’ll be alright, Helen. You and I both know he has a temper, but he’ll calm down. And he’s fought tougher dudes than Incinerator.”

Helen had smiled and nodded along, mostly to avoid stressing Lucius. He was mending, but slowly, especially given his Super genes. The last thing he needed was worry slowing his recovery even further.

In the quiet of her own company, though, Helen couldn’t pretend. She’d seen Bob angry before, plenty of times, but the cold certainty he’d displayed before leaving to hunt Incinerator scared her. 

Almost all Supers had blood on their hands. Helen was no stranger to violence, or to kill or be killed situations. But stalking and killing someone out of revenge was a whole different game, and she was terrified of what Bob might do in a blind rage that he’d later regret. 

The fact that she hadn’t heard anything about him, whether through an attempt to reach out or by spotting his handiwork on the news, made her even more concerned. Bob had a tendency to charge headlong into a fight, plans be damned. But he wasn’t stupid, and if he was taking the time to lay low and strike tactically, Helen worried he’d be successful. Whether she’d made the right choice in trying to find Incinerator first, Helen didn’t know, but she was pretty sure if Bob didn’t want to be found, she wouldn’t have much luck there.

She was still huddled in a ball of misery several hours later when she heard a knock at the door. Helen sat up and cringed as she caught sight of herself in the mirror. She decided to ignore the knock and hope Evelyn would go away, but the other woman started talking.

“I know you’re in there. Or I’m pretty sure you are, unless Edna has some hiding spots I haven’t scoped out yet. Anyway, you’ll probably want to see this.”

Helen scrubbed at her face and combed her fingers through her hair to try to drape it in front of her face as much as possible. A mental image of Violet doing the same thing made her hiccup as she got caught between a laugh and a sob. Deciding she was probably about as presentable as she was going to get, Helen opened the door cautiously, trying to hide behind it as much as possible. 

“What’s up?” Her voice sounded rough even to her own ears. 

Both of Evelyn’s eyebrows went up, but thankfully she didn’t comment on Helen’s appearance. “Since you don’t want to use Mr. Incredible’s tracker, I’ve modified the same monitoring system I was planning to use to search for Incinerator. Your husband isn’t radioactive, but he has extremely high testosterone levels - shocker, I know. So, I made these.” She held up two small metal spheres. Helen stared at them for a moment.

“And ‘these’ are ...?”

“Drones.” Evelyn held up a remote in her other hand and tapped a button. Tiny blades shot out of the drones, and they both lifted to a hovering position. “One set made to trace Incinerator - onboard thermometers and Geiger counters. The other set made to hunt for Mr. Incredible - air scrubbers filtering for testosterone and a few other chemicals present in his system at unusually high doses.”

“I take it you did some blood work on Bob while you had him hypnotized as well?”

“Couldn’t.” Evelyn shrugged. “He’s a tough cookie. I broke a few needles trying to get them in his arm and gave up. But he’s so overloaded with whatever chemical cocktail gives him all that strength, it’s literally radiating off him.”

Helen cleared her throat. “Why did you make these?”

“Like I said, I was already planning to do this for Incinerator - with these guys, I’ll be able to get a much more precise fix on his location. Didn’t take much to modify them. I figured you might want to know where Mr. Incredible was.” Evelyn shifted uncomfortably. “And of course, I kinda need him to test my-oomph!”

The rest of Evelyn’s sentence was cut off as Helen wrapped her up in a sudden hug. She felt Evelyn stiffen immediately and jerked back, embarrassed. 

“Sorry, I’m sorry.” 

“Forget it.” Evelyn took a step back. “Just thought you’d want to take a look before I sent them out.”

“Thank you, Evelyn.” 

“Again, I’m not doing this out of the goodness of my heart.”

“Hmm.” Helen felt the corner of her mouth curl slightly. “Not even a little bit?”

Evelyn let out a bark of laughter. “Really, we’re gonna go there?”

“On second thought, probably better not,” Helen admitted. 

“Shame. You’re kinda cute when you’re impaired.” 

Without really thinking about it, Helen shot out her arm to grab a pillow from the bed and smacked Evelyn. The other woman spluttered.

“Ok, ok, truce!” Evelyn’s cool grey eyes studied her, but for once, Helen thought they looked more amused than angry. “You look like shit, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Helen said dryly. “And here I thought we were going to politely ignore that.”

“I don’t politely do anything.” Evelyn shrugged. “I am on my way to impolitely raid Edna’s liquor cabinet - need to give my brain a break for a couple hours. Care to join?”

“That seems like an awfully friendly gesture for somebody that hates me. Also, I’m not entirely sure what you need is more alcohol.”

Evelyn sidestepped the underlying question in Helen’s statement. “I do my best designing when I’m a little blurry,” she said.

“Well, then.” Helen tossed the pillow back onto the bed and stepped into the hallway. “By all means, let’s get you drunk so you can build something cool.”

#

Evelyn was moderately impressed with Edna Mode’s alcohol collection. While she clearly favored wines over hard liquor, she had a decent selection of bourbon, as well as a few other odds and ends. Evelyn grabbed a bottle of whiskey, eyeing Helen in surprise when she chose vodka.

“I would have taken you for a wine person, myself.”

“It doesn’t matter very much, in the end,” Helen said. “It’s mostly how fast I’m trying to get buzzed.”

“Ah.” Evelyn poured herself a glass and settled on the sofa. “Something to do with Supers’ accelerated healing, I assume?”

“We metabolize everything a lot faster. I’d pretty much have to chug a wine bottle if I wanted to feel any effects from it.”

Evelyn snorted. “Well that’s quite the mental image.”

Helen started laughing as she perched on the opposite end of the couch. “I’ve never done it personally, but I’ve seen it done, and it was pretty funny.” She looked marginally more relaxed than she had upstairs, and the puffy redness was fading from around her eyes. Evelyn would have shot herself in the foot before admitting it, but a tiny part of her was relieved to see Helen looking more like herself.

“I also wouldn’t have taken you for the party girl type.” Watching carefully, Evelyn caught the slight flush on Helen’s face.

“I’ve ... matured.”

“Gotten boring, your mean?”

Helen pulled an offended face. “Excuse you, Elastigirl is not boring! I just chased a wanted criminal down the freeway and tried to hijack his van!”

“Elastigirl may not be boring, but what about Helen Parr?” Evelyn threw back her whiskey, wincing as it hit the back of her throat. “Stay-at-home suburban mother of three seems pretty far from keg parties and whatever else you were up to in your ‘immature’ days.”

She caught a flash of emotion on Helen’s face and mentally kicked herself. _She was crying in her room, probably worried about the family, and you bring up the kids? Good job, dumbass._

“I’ll admit I slowed down a little after Violet came along,” Helen said, clearly making an effort to shake off her melancholy, “but I like to think we still found ways to cool and have fun.”

“How old were you when you started ... being a Super, or a hero, or whatever?”

Helen cocked her head. “Wow, getting straight into the personal questions, huh?”

“Well, actually, I thought that one would be a matter of public record that I just never bothered to find out.” Evelyn shrugged. “But if it makes you feel better, I can take shots after you answer or something.”

“Oh no. I am not getting into stupid drinking games with you.”

“So you’ll drink, but you won’t make a game out of it? That sounds boring,” Evelyn said. Helen eyed her suspiciously, and Evelyn grinned. “Come on, live a little.”

“What’s got you in such a good mood?”

_Oh, I snapped you out of your funk and got you to unwind a bit. You might not utterly despise me, even though you definitely should. I might not utterly despise you, even though I did. I might find you hot when you’re not playing hero._ Evelyn choked slightly on her drink over her last thought. 

“I’ve got some good ideas about Incinerator’s dangersense,” she improvised instead. “Just need to let them swirl around in my head for a bit, get them a little more concrete before I can put them down on paper.” 

“I really hope you can figure that out,” Helen said. “I know we’re gonna reach out to Voyd, but I’d prefer to keep her far away from Incinerator if I can help it. She’s too young to be risking her life like that.” 

Evelyn barely heard what Helen was saying. Her mind was too busy twisting itself into a knot. _You colossal moron! Of all people, you can’t be checking her out. Just because she’s hot -_

“Dammit,” Evelyn hissed, slamming her glass down. Helen pulled back, startled. 

“What?” 

“Sorry.” Evelyn closed her eyes. “Sorry, just ... thought of a mistake I made in some equations. I’ll have to rerun a couple things.” 

Helen nodded, but Evelyn could see the sudden disappointment on her face. “Do you need to go do that now?” 

“I ... nah, you know, it’s fine for a while. If I stare at screens and equations for too long, it all stops making sense. Like saying a word too many times and it doesn’t sound like a word any more.” 

“It’s just possible the drinking might have something to do with that.” 

Evelyn dipped the tips of her fingers in her glass and flicked them at Helen, causing her to duck back. “What did I say about getting judgy over my drinking?” 

“I’m just saying!” But Helen was smiling, and after a moment, Evelyn couldn’t resist joining in. 

“You know, for a hero and a villain, we’re not doing too bad,” Helen said. “We saved your data, nobody died, we’re figuring out how to get ahead of Incinerator ... you get to design and build stuff, I get lots of cool toys to play with ...” 

“Sort of an enemies with benefits relationship, hmm?” 

Helen threw her a look. 

“God you’re a prude.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“You heard me.” Evelyn couldn’t resist the temptation to wind Helen up. Some people were just too easy. 

“You don’t know as much about me as you think you do,” Helen fired back. 

“Well I did try to initiate the get-to-know-each-other drinking games, but if you’ll recall, I was unequivocally shot down.” 

Helen narrowed her eyes. Evelyn did her best to keep a neutral expression painted on her face. Finally, Helen stretched an arm out and topped off each of their glasses. 

"Never have I ever gone to a keg party.” 

Evelyn grinned. “You know, if you’re trying to convince me you’re not a prude, coming up with shit you haven’t done probably isn’t the way to go about it.” 

"We’ll see.” Helen smiled as Evelyn took a drink. “Your turn.” 

“Fine. Game on. Never have I ever ... had a mohawk.” 

“Oh my god, who told you about that?” Helen demanded. 

“I ran across a few press photos from your early days when I was researching for the original Elasticycle.” Evelyn motioned with her finger. “Come on, bottoms up.” 

Helen took a drink and stuck her tongue out. “Jerk.” 

“Hey, it’s tactics. Gotta start strong and get you drunk early.” 

“Uh huh, thought the point of this was learning new things,” Helen said. “Anyway. Never have I ever ...” She squinted thoughtfully at Evelyn, “gotten a PhD?” 

“Good guess.” Another drink. “Two of them, actually. Engineering and Computer Programming.” 

“Impressive.” 

“Thank you. Never have I ever ... Well I was going to say ‘never been married’ but now you’ve shamed me into actually trying to guess something new.” 

Helen tipped her head back and laughed. “Tactics, like you said.” 

“Hmph. Fine.” Evelyn decided to go for the jugular. “Never have I ever been in the closet, so to speak.” It was a complete shot in the dark, and she was mostly just curious to see how Helen would respond to her insinuation about herself. She absolutely did not expect Helen to drink. 

“Close your mouth, you’re going to catch flies.” 

“Wha- I wasn’t serious!” 

“Oh, so you were in the closet?” Helen’s eyes sparkled, and Evelyn got the sinking suspicion she’d either made a tactical error or was about to be the butt of a practical joke. 

“I’ll admit, in the beginning, being queer on top of being a superhero was a little too much weird for one girl from Georgia. But I got my head around it all eventually.” 

Evelyn found herself in the rare situation of being at a loss for words. She absently took a drink without thinking about it and caught Helen snickering. 

“But if ... so what about Mr. Incredible?” 

“First off, you can just call him Bob, you know. Although maybe not to his face. Second, I said queer, I didn’t say I wasn’t attracted to men. Third, that wasn’t in the form of ‘I never,’ so you owe me a drink.” 

Evelyn polished off the rest of her glass and refilled it. “Well that got a whole lot more interesting than I was expecting.” 

“Still think I’m boring?” Without waiting for an answer, Helen raised a finger. “I know! Never have I ev-“ She cut off abruptly as the phone started ringing. 

Evelyn set her glass down on the coffee table and traded a long look with Helen. “You think it’s for Edna?” 

Helen shook her head. “Her work phone rings down in the lab, and she shut it off before she left. That’s the private line ... only a handful of people have it, and as far as I know, they all know she’s out of town.” She cautiously lifted the phone to her ear. “Hello?” 

An excited male voice chattered on the other end of the line. Evelyn couldn’t make out the words. 

“Ok ... hey ... yeah it’s me ... yes, she’s ... hang on, can you slow down?” Helen covered the mouthpiece with her hand. “It’s Winston. I gave him the number. He wants us to turn on the news.” 

Evelyn grabbed the remote and flipped the TV to a local channel. Her eyes widened as she saw an overhead shot of her house engulfed in flames. She vaguely heard Helen talking to Winston. 

“No, I promise, she’s right here with me. We’re gonna have to check a few things. I’ll have her call you back in a little bit, ok? Ok. Bye.” 

Helen reached over to turn up the volume, and they both listened to the report. 

_“... fire crews were called to the 800 block of West Chester after reports of a structure fire ... believed to be the home of DevTech COO Evelyn Deavor ... recently in the news after launching the Screenslaver attacks ... Deavor is believed to have been inside the house when it was destroyed ...”_

“Well,” Evelyn said into the silence, “on the upside, everybody now thinks I’m dead.” 

“And on the downside, everyone thinks you’re dead. That could be a little difficult to sort out down the road.” 

“Hey, at least this way they still don’t realize I’ve escaped -“ 

_“Breaking news. Rescue crews have just discovered a body that is believed to be Evelyn Deavor.”_

Evelyn froze. Beside her, she saw Helen’s knuckles go white around her glass. 

“If you’re here, who the hell is dead in your house?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they thought they were gonna get a night off ...
> 
> So, the ice is finally cracking, just a smidge. Although if you thought they were going to sort out their issues and spend the rest of the night cuddled up on the couch, sorry - it’s gonna take more than one round of drinking to square them up!
> 
> The beginning of the chapter was a little heavy, so hopefully the impromptu drinking game made up for it :)
> 
> As always, thanks so much for reading! You guys always make me smile when I see the comments.


	9. THE TRUTH IS, THE GAME WAS RIGGED FROM THE START

“We’ve got to tell them.”

“This is crazy. Everything’s in perfect working order. I don’t get it.”

Helen scrubbed both hands over her face. “Are you even listening to me? We can’t just let the police think that’s you lying in the morgue.”

Evelyn glanced up from her screen array. “Actually, I’m totally fine with that. I can design shit under a pseudonym from some remote Caribbean island and Winston can send me my cut. And no, I’m not listening, because I’m trying to figure out why we didn’t get any notification from the system.”

“But there’s an actual victim!” Helen insisted. “One they won’t be trying to find the identity of because _they think they already know!”_

“And we’ll figure out who the victim is when we catch Incinerator,” Evelyn snapped, “which will be considerably easier if I don’t have to keep looking over my shoulder for the police.”

“Hey.” Helen waited until Evelyn turned to look at her again. “I’m not saying you should walk up to the police station and announce you’re alive, ok?” 

Evelyn gave her a skeptical look. 

“Come on, I’m the one that broke you out in the first place. Well, gave you a reason to break yourself out, anyway.”

“True.” Evelyn tapped her fingers absently on the counter, and Helen wondered if she was aware she was spelling out swear words in Morse code. “But it’s not like they’re going to close the case any time soon. They’ll have a job positively identifying that body - there are only two people that can get my dental and medical records, and neither one of us are available at the moment. Winston’s not going to come rushing back to ID somebody he knows isn’t me.”

“And how do you propose we do solve the victim identity mystery? Because, you know, we don’t have enough on our plates here already.”

“Check this monitor out.”

“Quit trying to change the subject.”

“No, seriously, Helen, look at this. There was no system malfunction. And no radiation spike before the fire started. Incinerator didn’t set it.”

Helen leaned over to study the monitors. “You think there’s another maniac out there with a grudge who wanted to burn your house down? Admittedly, having met you, that’s not beyond the realm of possibility, but still ...” She had to dodge a handful of peanuts that came flying at her head. 

“Let me rephrase,” Evelyn said. “I don’t think Incinerator did this personally.”

“He’s never sent anybody else to do his dirty work before, that we know of.”

“Just ... let me think this through. He wants my hypnosis tech. Or something that DevTech has information on - for now we’ll assume that’s what he’s after.” Evelyn leaned her elbows on the table and cradled her head in her hands. “He tries to steal it directly from DevTech, and fails. Now he knows the company’s on high alert. The mainframe is in a police evidence locker, or with Winston ... either way, he won’t be getting his hands on it any time soon. So, what’s the next best thing?”

“You think he wants to kidnap you now, instead of kill you? Just so he can get your tech. That’s a stretch.” Helen bit her lip. “Not to put too fine a point on it, but you are the epitome of the type he’s been hunting.”

Evelyn’s brow furrowed. “You’re not wrong. And if I am right about this, I’m sure killing me painfully is still on his to-do list. But think about it - what’s the end goal here? Kill everybody that opposes Supers and then, what, disappear into the ether?”

“If I had to guess,” Helen said slowly, “I’d say he’s some kind of Super supremicist. They’re around, although he’s certainly the most militant one by far. A few Supers we knew back in the day were ... well, they thought regular people were inferior, that Supers should ... rule, or something.” She folded her arms across her chest and glanced at Evelyn out of the corner of her eye. Evelyn’s eyes were stormy, and her jaw worked as she obviously tried to bite back whatever she was considering saying.

“I know, ok? There are bad apples in every bunch.” Helen steepled her fingers under her chin. “So you’re saying he’s not just killing off opponents of the Supers, he’s planning to use your technology somehow to, I don’t know, put himself in charge or something?”

“It’s what I’d do.” Evelyn lifted her chin defiantly. 

Helen nodded. “Ok, let’s say all this is correct - that still doesn’t explain why he didn’t just torch your house himself.”

“Two guess.” Evelyn held up her fingers and ticked them off. “One, he figured out after the DevTech robbery that we’re working together again - if he’s been following recent events, the new Elasticycle might have been something of a giveaway - and he got smart and decided to stay away in case we have a way to track him. Two, he came to the house himself, spotted the traps, and sent somebody back to torch the place.”

Helen felt vaguely ill. “You think he deliberately sent someone in there knowing whatever you had rigged up would kill them.”

“One way to find out. I’ll send the drones over there. If there are radiation traces, he was at the house recently.”

The TV was still on in the background, and Helen gestured to it as she shook her head. “You can’t - the place is still crawling with police & fire crews. They’ll be spotted right away and then people are going to get suspicious.”

Evelyn huffed in frustration. “We need to scan the area before any traces have time to disperse.”

“I’ll go.” Helen stood up. “It won’t be at all unusual for Elastigirl to show up to a crime scene.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Evelyn said. “On the off chance he’s not aware of our partnership, you show up to my presumed murder and it’s gonna make him wonder.”

“If he didn’t want to kill me before I hijacked his van, he definitely does now - I can hardly make it worse. And we do need to know if he was there, as well as whatever I can pick up from the area. We’ll just have to let the chips fall where they may.”

#

When Helen pulled up across the street from the remains of Evelyn’s house, she wasn’t surprised to find the yard still crawling with police despite the late hour. She also spotted a few busybody neighbors peering through their windows and made a mental note to canvas the neighborhood during daylight hours and see if there were any witnesses.

She left the bike at the curb and walked up the driveway. The house had been set back a fair way from the road, and it took the policemen a few moments to notice the newcomer on the scene. 

“Ma’am! You can’t be here, this - oh, sorry Elastigirl.” The cop tipped his hat. “What brings you out tonight?”

“I was just passing by and saw the commotion.” Helen gestured at the charred remains of the house. “I heard this was where they were keeping Evelyn Deavor under house arrest?”

“Yes ma’am.” The cop glanced around and lowered his voice. “Don’t know if you’d heard, but they found a body inside. They’re pretty sure it’s Deavor. Good riddance, after what she tried to do to you.”

“Oh, that’s really professional,” Evelyn snipped in her ear. Helen resisted the urge to roll her eyes with colossal effort. 

“Where is the body now?” She asked instead.

“They’ve already taken it down to the city morgue. Supposed to be an autopsy tomorrow.”

Helen surveyed the scene, which reminded her of an overturned anthill, police running every which way. “What do they think happened?”

The officer shrugged. “You ask me, she was probably trying to build a bomb or escape or something and shorted out a circuit and caused the fire herself.”

“Oh for god’s sake, I’m not a preschooler with a science kit, I’m a fucking engineer. I’m hardly going to burn my own house down.”

Stifling a laugh, Helen thanked the officer and moved closer to the house. 

“You’ve got to quit doing that while I’m talking to people,” Helen muttered under her breath. “I’m going to start laughing at a completely inappropriate time and they’ll think I’m crazy.”

“You realize that’s absolutely not encouraging me to stop doing it.” She heard Evelyn rustling papers, and then the clink of ice in a glass.

“Hey, lay off the whiskey while I’m out here, ok? I think one experience with you drunk driving the bike was quite enough.”

Evelyn snorted. “If you ever ride with me when I’m sober, I think you’ll see this is the lesser of two evils. Still,” more shuffling and a splash, “if it will keep you from nagging me, I’ll just hop myself up on caffeine instead.” 

Helen shook her head and smiled, secure in the fact that Evelyn couldn’t see her face. “Ok, tell me how close I need to get for your radiation sniffers to start working.”

“Get to what’s left of the front porch, if you can - he’ll probably have passed through there. Also, have you considered that you don’t need to laugh at an inappropriate time in a conversation, you probably look kinda crazy wandering around talking to thin air right now.”

“It’s dark, and they have more important things to worry about.”

“Hold up. Stop right there.” Helen froze on the edge of the porch, listening to the frantic clicking over the line. “Yep, I’m getting definite readings.”

“Keep monitoring. I’m going to poke around, see what I can find.” Helen stepped carefully into the wreckage of the house. One of the fireman was crouched in what had formerly been the kitchen, sifting through the debris. Helen waited at a respectful distance until he acknowledged her. 

“Come on over, Elastigirl.”

“I didn’t want to disturb your evidence.”

The fireman waved a hand in exasperation. “Don’t have enough evidence to disturb. Whatever caused this fire, it burned hot. Damn near melted everything.”

Helen surveyed the area. “Have you been able to pinpoint where the fire started?”

“Oh yeah, that was easy.” The fireman gestured toward the center of the wreckage. “Right where we found the body.”

“But the body itself wasn’t destroyed, even though it was at the epicenter?”

“It would’ve been, but she was wearing some kind of flame retardant clothing. Obviously wasn’t good enough, but it did deflect some of the damage you might expect.”

“And you’re sure it was Evelyn Deavor?” Helen said. 

“Nobody else lives here, no visitors on the approved list except for her brother, and wearing the ankle monitor. We’ll have to wait on the brother to get us dental records for a formal ID, of course.”

“Of course, thanks, sorry, got to run.” Helen scrambled over a collapsed section of the kitchen and out into the back yard. “Did you hear that?”

“This was a deliberate misdirection.” Evelyn sounded a little shell-shocked, and Helen couldn’t really blame her. “Incinerator wants them to think I’m dead. If I’m supposed to be dead, nobody will notice if I go missing.”

Helen didn’t swear out loud, but she considered the shape of the words in her mouth for a moment. “So while we’re hunting him, he’s hunting us too.”

“Helen,” Evelyn’s voice was full of warning, and Helen felt her spine stiffen automatically. “You have to be very careful. They think that was me because of the ankle monitor. If it had left the property, they would have known it.”

Mind racing, it didn’t take Helen long to fill in the rest. “It had to be put on after the victim got here, and since nobody’s gonna let an ankle monitor be put on them like that, probably after they were dead. Which means either Incinerator came back after the fire ...”

“Or somebody at the scene is on the take.”

The skin between her shoulder blades crawled, and Helen battled the urge to spin around and confront each one of the emergency workers. Evelyn was right - she had to tread cautiously.

She did take a long look at the tree line near the back of the property. If Incinerator had come back himself, he could be hiding ... she didn’t know exactly how far away his pyrokinesis was effective ...

She nearly stopped breathing when she spotted the shadowed figure in the trees. 

“Evelyn,” she whispered, “can you see him?”

“I see something ... you’re too far away ...” Evelyn cursed under her breath. 

It was difficult to tell at a distance, but the figure seemed to be staring right at her. Helen’s heartbeat tripled. She took a slow step toward the tree line.

“I suppose it’s not going to do me any good to tell you not to go out there?”

“It’s not exactly top of my bucket list,” Helen hissed, “but I can’t just ignore him or run away. What if he attacks the emergency crews the minute I’m gone?”

The figure straightened abruptly and vanished back into the trees as she drew closer. Helen growled and picked up the pace. 

As soon as she stepped into the trees, Helen realized exactly how dark it was. She nearly walked straight into a branch, and only a faint reflection of red and blue flashing lights saved her. Evelyn started to say something, but Helen flapped her hand in front of the camera in a quick signal for silence. 

She stood still, ears and eyes straining for any trace of the figure she was chasing. A moment too late, she felt a presence behind her, and before she could turn, a hand clamped over her mouth and an arm wrapped around her torso, pinning her own arms to her sides. She thrashed and whipped her head back while extending her neck, trying to land a hit to her assailant’s face, but he easily avoided her attack. Helen struggled hard, almost missing the fact that her captor was whispering to her.

“Helen! Helen, would you calm down, it’s me, it’s just me!”

Helen gasped and felt the hand leave her mouth.

_“Bob?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter’s a hair shorter than some of my others, but there’s a lot of story kicking off at this point, and I wanted to get this bit out. 
> 
> Seems to be a trend for the Hevelyn stories updating this weekend, actually, stressful situations :) I swear I didn’t plan that - can’t speak for my fellow authors.


	10. OUT OF THE FIRE AND INTO THE CROCK POT

“Where the hell have you been?” Her heart was still racing, both from the scare and the surprise of seeing Bob, and Helen only just remembered to keep her voice to an angry whisper. “You just took off! It’s been four days!”

  
“Well ...”

  
“For all I knew you could have been burnt to a crisp in an alley somewhere! Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”

  
Bob scratched at the back of his neck, adopting a sheepish expression. “I know, I should have checked in with you.”

  
“And when you finally decide to show up, you scare the pants off me ...”

  
“Well now I’m sorry I didn’t have a better view of this little meet-up,” Evelyn drawled in her ear.

  
“Shut up! No comments from you. And you -“ Helen pointed an accusing finger at Bob, “start talking, Mister.”

  
“Ok, I’m getting some mixed signals here, do you want me to talk or-“

  
“No, that - yes, I want you to talk, I was telling Evelyn to shut up.”

  
Bob looked at her with concern. “Honey, I’m sure I startled you a bit, but if you’re hearing voices from dead people, we should probably get that checked out.”

  
“I’m - wait, what?”

  
“You just said you were talking to Evelyn.” Bob pointed in the direction of the smoldering house. “As in, Evelyn Deavor that they just found dead over there? Unless there’s another Evelyn I don’t know about?”

  
“So, we both have a few things to catch up on,” Helen conceded. “But you first!”

  
“Right.” Bob scuffed his toe in the dirt. “I went out trying to track down Incinerator, obviously -“

  
“- we’re going to have a long discussion about that later, by the way -”

  
“- and it didn’t take me very long to realize something weird was going on.” Bob frowned. “After I checked out the alley where they found Frozone, I ran across Incinerator almost by accident. It was the middle of the day, people everywhere - I couldn’t risk a fight, too many civilian casualties if he set the place on fire. So I followed him. That fire at City Hall the other day? That only happened after he had a clandestine meeting with the Mayor. Who left by the back door before everything kicked off.”

  
Helen gnawed her lip. “That’s ... really bad.”

  
“I know.” Bob’s shoulders slumped as he let out a deep sigh. “As much as I wanted to wring his neck, if Incinerator’s not doing this on his own, we have to know why. I’ve been alternating between the Mayor’s office and the police precinct, trying to get a sense of who might be involved.”

  
“Well I can’t say I’m sorry you didn’t attack him,” Helen said. “You know we have to do this right, Bob.”

  
“Yeah. It’s just ... after Lucius ...”

  
“He’s going to be fine. He’s already doing better.” Helen bent her head slightly, trying to catch Bob’s eye as he stared at the ground. “Why didn’t you tell me what you were doing?”

  
“I knew you were mad at me for going after him in the first place. I guess ...” Bob’s gaze finally met hers, his crystal blue eyes wide and guileless. “I wanted to do better before I came back, you know?”

  
Helen wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him fiercely, feeling the knot in her stomach unwind as he hugged her back. “I’m proud of you, you know that?”

  
“Missed you.” Bob dropped a kiss on the top of her head, and Helen pressed her face into his chest and relaxed for the first time in days.

  
“Hey, lovebirds, sorry to break up the reunion, but we’ve got problems.”

  
Helen jumped at the voice in her ear. In the relief at seeing Bob, she’d nearly forgotten Evelyn was listening in on the whole conversation.

  
Bob obviously felt her startle, because he leaned back to catch a glimpse of her face. “What’s wrong?”

  
“Just wasn’t expecting ...” Helen gestured at the earpiece she was wearing.

  
“Who’s on the other end - wait a minute.” Bob’s incredulous expression would have made Helen laugh if she wasn’t bracing for the explosion. “When you said you were talking to Evelyn ... are you serious? You’ve got the Screenslaver on the other end of your comm?”

  
“Bob, a lot has happened in the past couple of days -“

  
“If you’re talking to Evelyn Deavor right now -“

  
“Who the hell is dead in the house, yes, that’s the million dollar question we’ve all been asking.”

  
“I don’t know if anybody’s interested,” Evelyn cut in, “but somebody’s currently trying to sabotage the bike.”

#

Evelyn tugged a piece of paper out of her notebook and started folding it without really paying attention to what she was doing. She’d always been the type that needed to keep her hands busy doing something, whether it was tinkering with electronics or sketching new ideas or simply folding paper airplanes.

  
She kept her eyes glued to the monitors, flicking back and forth between Helen’s suit cam and the cam mounted on the Elasticycle. The later was currently displaying the nervous face of a policeman as he fiddled with the housing over the bike’s engine.

  
While she absolutely wasn’t above eavesdropping on the conversation between Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible, Evelyn had decided it might also be wise to keep an eye on the wider picture while the Supers were distracted. As soon as she’d pulled up the view from the Elasticycle, she’d spotted the policeman that Helen had spoken to on her way in. He was making his way down the drive toward the bike, and the furtive way he checked his surroundings had immediately caught Evelyn’s attention. When he’d reached the bike and pulled a multi tool from his belt, she’d decided the rest of the Parr family kiss-and-make-up would have to wait.

  
Her view from Helen’s suit cam was briefly blocked by Mr. Incredible’s bulk, and then he was clear, and Evelyn could see the bike across the street. The Supers were obviously situated in the shrubbery lining the sidewalk in front of her property. They had a brief whispered conference.

  
“I don’t just want to stop him, I want to catch him,” Helen insisted.

  
“You get back to the house. They’ve already seen you here - he may not be the only one involved. We can’t let them know that we know.”

  
“Good point. Take him to Edna’s. And if you get there before I do, play nice.” Evelyn could tell the last bit was addressed to her as much as to Mr. Incredible.

  
Helen’s camera view shifted back out of the bushes as she crept toward the back of the house. Evelyn switched over to the bike’s camera just in time to see a small dark shape arc out of the bushes and strike the policeman squarely in the back of the head. He folded over the bike like a limp dishrag, and a moment later she saw him being hoisted onto Mr. Incredible’s shoulder.

  
When she glanced at Helen’s cam again, the view was moving through the wreckage of the house as Helen called cheery goodbyes to the emergency crews. She jogged back to the bike, and her worried face appeared on the screen.

  
“Are you sure he didn’t damage anything?”

  
“I spotted him before he actually got there, and I was running a remote diagnostic the whole time. Everything checks out fine.”

  
“Great.” Helen started up the bike and peeled out. She was quiet for the first few blocks of her drive before finally speaking hesitantly. “I like to think we’ve reached a détente over the last couple of days. And I realize having Bob around is going to ... complicate things, to say the least.”

  
Evelyn tried to ignore the slight tightness at the back of her throat. “In other words, he probably wants to break me in half.”

  
“Nobody’s breaking anybody,” Helen said firmly. “Just ... he doesn’t know you as anything but the Screenslaver. He’ll appreciate what you’ve done for us in the last few days, but it will take some time. And until then, if you could avoid antagonizing him, I’d appreciate it.”

  
“As you’ve so astutely pointed out, I’m not actually suicidal.” Even though Helen couldn’t see it, Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Believe it or not, I do know better than to poke the big angry lion with a sharp stick.”

#

Helen had a feeling she could have cut the atmosphere in the kitchen with a knife. She and Bob had arrived nearly simultaneously back at Edna’s, and Bob had immediately carried the rogue policeman to a spare room and trussed him up like a Christmas goose. Then they’d reconvened around the table for a war council.

  
Evelyn was folded up in one of the dining room chairs, practically wrapped around a steaming mug, although Helen had a feeling there was more alcohol than coffee in it at this point. Bob was seated directly across from Evelyn, as far away as he could get without actually leaving the table. A big part of Helen, the part that had worried and stressed and desperately missed her husband over the last few days, wanted to pull up a chair next to him, but her logical side asserted itself. She couldn’t let Evelyn feel like the Supers were ganging up on her, so she pulled up a chair halfway between the two of them.

  
“First things first,” Bob said in a low voice. “Where are the kids?”

  
“With Edna.” Helen almost laughed at his skeptical expression. “Well I wasn’t going to let them hang around with Incinerator on the loose. And it’s not like there’s anybody else who can really watch Jack-Jack.”

  
Bob cracked a smile. “That’s true.” His eyes drifted back toward Evelyn, and the smile faded. “So how did this come about, exactly?”

  
Before Helen could speak up, Evelyn surprised her. “I don’t know if you’ve picked up on it since you’ve been somewhat incognito, but Incinerator’s targeting a very specific subset of people - anybody who’s made life difficult for Supers, shall we say.”

  
“So he’s not too happy with you at the moment, huh?”

  
“No, nor with -“ Evelyn hesitated, and when she glanced over, Helen could see the question in her eyes.

  
“Of course he knows,” she said. Bob raised an eyebrow at her. “I testified at Evelyn’s sentencing, remember?”

  
Bob’s expression went from confused to thunderous in a heartbeat. Helen saw Evelyn flinch back slightly in her chair and prepared to intervene.

  
“You’re saying that bastard is after you too?”

  
“Probably.” Helen watched his face carefully. “Apparently he’s already gone after Voyd once.”

  
“Well.” Bob set his jaw and glared at the table for a moment before finally looking up at Evelyn. “I guess I can see what persuaded the two of you to work together.”

  
Evelyn let out a small breath she probably didn’t realize she’d been holding. “I’m concerned about my brother as well - he also testified at the hearing.”

  
“You don’t think bringing Supers back in the first place will be enough to keep Winston safe?” Bob asked.

  
“We just don’t know. This guy is obviously nuts.”

  
“Besides,” Helen added, “he’s after more than a hit list. We had to stop him from making off with all of DevTech’s research & development.”

  
“Between that and the meeting with the Mayor, I’d say we have a fairly major problem here,” Bob said. “I guess it’s time to go and find out what that cop knows. Hopefully I won’t have to beat it out of him.”

  
Evelyn raised a hand, looking slightly apprehensive. “There’s another option.”

#

Before they enacted Evelyn’s plan, Helen hustled Bob off to the master bedroom and gave him an extra set of the anti-hypnosis contacts Edna had made for her. Bob smirked when he saw them.

  
“Somehow I figured you hadn’t just buried the hatchet.”

  
Helen smiled crookedly. “I probably trust her more than I should,” she admitted, “but there’s no call to be stupid about it.”

  
They retrieved the policeman, now conscious and yelling muffled obscenities into his gag, and hauled him into the living room. They’d already decided that the fewer people who saw Evelyn, the better, so Helen stretched her hand around the corner and retrieved the goggles Evelyn had prepared for them. She had an alarming moment of deja vu when she slapped them over his eyes and all the fight went out of him. Bob crouched on the floor and spoke quietly.

  
“We know you’re working with Incinerator. What was your job at the fire scene?”

  
The policeman spoke in a dull monotone. “I had to be the first one on the scene. Somebody needed to put the ankle monitor on Centurion.”

  
“Who’s Centurion?” Helen couldn’t keep the sudden spike of alarm out of her voice.

  
“She worked with Incinerator too. She didn’t like it when he attacked that Super. Voyd. She helped Voyd get away.”

  
“What happened after that?”

  
“They argued. Incinerator and Centurion. I didn’t see the fight. They told me about it later. Incinerator told her she was right, he shouldn’t have attacked another Super. But he didn’t mean it. He didn’t want her challenging his authority.”

  
“So he sent her on a suicide mission.” Bob’s eyes were flinty, and Helen saw the arm of the sofa bend alarmingly where his hand rested on it.

  
“Yes. I had to make sure everyone thought she was Deavor.”

  
“Why does Incinerator want people to think Evelyn is dead?” Helen asked.

  
“I don’t know.”

  
Helen glanced back at the kitchen doorway, where Evelyn was monitoring the whole thing, and raised an eyebrow. Evelyn shrugged and nodded slightly. Helen sighed, but she knew it had been unlikely they’d get the entire picture from one suspect. Bob was still questioning the hypnotized cop.

  
“Who does Incinerator plan to attack next?”

  
“He still wants to get Voyd.”

  
Out of the corner of her eye, Helen saw Evelyn stiffen in the doorway and wave frantically. She motioned for Bob to keep talking and slipped into the kitchen.

  
“Where did you say Voyd is now?” Evelyn hissed.

  
“Edna said they put her in a safe house. She should be hidden - it’ll take Incinerator a long time to find her.”

  
“Not if the police are compromised!”

  
Helen’s heart skipped a few beats. “We have to find her, fast.”

  
“Damn straight, because I’m sure this joker isn’t the only crooked cop on Incinerator’s payroll.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Mr. Incredible has arrived! I know he’s been surprisingly under-the-radar so far. Bob is something of a bull in a china shop when it comes to hero work, but he does have his moments. When he’s stuck on Nomanisan Island, he manages to evade detection, sneak back into Syndrome’s facility, and gather intel - he only gets caught because Helen triggered his beacon, not because of anything he did wrong per se. I see Bob as somebody who lacks discipline, not talent. He’s perfectly capable of being subtle and taking care of situations in low-key ways, he just doesn’t, because a) there’s no glory in it, and b) why take the time and effort to be careful if he can just bull his way through a situation and expect somebody to clean up after him, be that Helen or the NSA. It takes an extreme situation - being outmatched by Syndrome’s robot, or realizing that there’s a big conspiracy going on that he can’t topple on his own, for example - to make him take the careful path.
> 
> They’re all having to roll with a lot of punches right now ... this is basically a Very Bad 24 Hours for the team. But don’t worry, they’ll have some more quiet time soon - Bob will have to assess how he really feels about working with Evelyn, Evelyn will work through some more of the mess in her head, and Helen will try to figure it all out while doing what she does best and holding everybody together.


	11. AIN’T THAT A KICK IN THE HEAD

“Voyd could be anywhere in the city! And Incinerator probably already knows where she is!” Helen was pacing in a tight circle around the kitchen wringing her hands, and it was starting to make Evelyn slightly nauseous. Or, possibly, that was her stomach announcing that it was time for something other than a liquid diet. She wasn’t totally sure.

Mr. Incredible had made a couple of abortive attempts to calm his wife down, but he was currently slouched in a chair watching her pace as well. He caught Evelyn’s eye, and she nearly fell off the counter in shock when he tipped his head toward Helen and raised an eyebrow at her expectantly, as if he actually wanted her to help.

Evelyn took a deep breath and cut into Helen’s muttering. “Ok, I’ve still got those drones I’d configured to search for Mr. Incredible. Give me a half hour, and I can tweak them to search for Voyd - I doubt they’ll be able to find her in a passive state, but if she tries to open a portal, the electromagnetic disturbance should be enough to pinpoint her.”

“Well, it’s a start, but if we have to wait for her to use her powers, we probably won’t locate her until she’s already fighting Incinerator,” Mr. Incredible said. “We’re likely to lose that race.”

“This is my fault,” Helen mumbled. “I shouldn’t have told her I was planning to go to that hearing.”

An odd feeling caught her off guard, and it took Evelyn a minute to identify it as guilt. She picked at a knot in the table to avoid looking at either of the Supers. “I think, if we’re assigning blame, it’s probably my fault - if it weren’t for me, neither you nor Voyd would have been put in this position.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Supers exchange a quick look.

“You’re on the hook for plenty,” Mr. Incredible said, “but this ... if it wasn’t you, it would have been something else. You sure didn’t help matters, but I have a feeling Incinerator’s been radical a lot longer than a couple months.”

“Still.” Evelyn stood up. “We need to find Voyd before he does. For her sake, and ours, if we want a decent shot at getting close to him.” She glanced over at Helen. “You might try talking to that cop some more. The downside of hypnosis is, he won’t volunteer anything if you don’t think to ask him about it. He might not know where Voyd is, but maybe he knows who does know.”

“I’ll try.” Helen sounded dubious. “We haven’t been back into hero work long enough to build up favors with the police again, like we had in the old days. Maybe I can call Dicker, see if he knows anyone he can lean on for information.”

Her comment triggered the thing that had been hovering in the back of Evelyn’s mind. “Winston! He golfs with the chief of police! I’ll have him call - he might be able to wrangle some info.”

“Won’t that be suspicious?” Bob asked. “Particularly if whoever he talks to is in on this?”

“No, Winston’s an excellent liar,” Evelyn said blithely. 

“Well that makes me feel great. Runs in the family, does it?”

Evelyn shot him a dirty look. “My brother’s been nothing but supportive of you all. Keep the anger where it belongs.”

#

“That really freaked me out, you know, turning on the news and seeing reports you were dead.” Winston was unusually somber, and Evelyn wasn’t sure how much of that was down to worry and how much was due to the time. She wondered if her sleepless nights were more or less likely to bring on a stroke than her alcohol consumption before managing to rein her distracted thoughts back in.

“You didn’t really think I’d gone meekly back to house arrest, did you?”

“I didn’t know what to think. I-“ Winston’s voice cracked, and she heard him swallow hard. “Just be careful, ok? I know none of us are exactly safe until they catch this guy, but ... you’re all I’ve got left, you know that, right?”

Evelyn felt an uncomfortable prickling behind her eyes. “I’m probably safer than you are right now, Win. I’m surrounded by ‘heroes,’ remember?”

He sniffled, but his voice sounded more upbeat when he spoke again. “How’s that working out for you? Have you snapped and tried to strangle Elastigirl yet? Or has she snapped and tried to strangle you?”

“Very funny.” Evelyn gnawed on the end of her pencil. A huge part of her didn’t want to drag Winston any further into this mess, and despite what she’d told the Incredibles, she wasn’t overly confident that somebody wouldn’t put two and two together once Winston started prodding the police for information. On the other hand, they really did need Voyd. Odds were slim that Incinerator’s dangersense would work exactly the same way as Mr. Incredible’s - Voyd was absolutely their best chance at surprising him. 

She also didn’t want to admit it, even to herself, but the vague sense of disquiet Evelyn had been feeling ever since Helen’s apology and later breakdown was growing. The idea of getting to Voyd and finding a charred body caused bile to rise in the back of her throat. 

“Evie?” Winston said. She realized she’d been quiet for too long.

“Listen, Winston, we need you to do something, but you have to be careful.”

“Of course! Anything!” He sounded eager, and Evelyn snarled silently in frustration. 

“I mean it. You have to be subtle about this.” Evelyn took a deep breath. “You’re all I’ve got too, ok?”

There was static on the line for a moment. “Ok.” 

“You still golf with the Metroville chief of police, don’t you?”

“Yeah, we were supposed to go this weekend. I had to cancel, obviously.”

“Great.” Evelyn gripped her pencil tightly. “I need you to talk to him. When Incinerator went after Voyd, they stuck her in a safe house somewhere. We have to know where she is.”

“And you’re asking me, instead of having Elastigirl call up the police herself,” Winston said slowly, “which means you don’t want them to know who’s asking.”

“They’re crooked. We don’t know who, or how many, but some of them are definitely working with Incinerator.”

Winston drew in a sharp breath through his teeth. “That’s a problem.” 

“So you see why you need to be very careful.”

“And I take it you need to know where she is ASAP?”

“We need to know yesterday,” Evelyn said.

“Got it.” She could picture the determined expression on Winston’s face with crystal clarity, and it sent a pang through her chest. “Leave it to me. I’ll have the location for you in a jiffy. Gotta run. Love you!”

“Love you too.” Evelyn placed the phone back in its cradle and stared at it for a long moment. 

“Sucks when we have to put them in danger, doesn’t it?” The voice startled Evelyn so badly she snapped the pencil she was still holding and flinched back as the splinters hit her in the face.

“Oops. Sorry,” Helen said, although when Evelyn looked over, she had a feeling Helen’s too-neutral expression was concealing a smile.

She opted not to comment on it. “I’m only doing this to protect Winston. Seems crazy that I have to ask him to stick his neck out.”

“The faster we find Voyd, the faster we can make a plan to take Incinerator down, and then Winston and everybody else will be safe.”

“I know.” Evelyn looked hopefully at the two mugs Helen was holding. “Please tell me at least one of those has bourbon in it.”

“Don’t you have some drone rewiring to do? It’s coffee.” 

“Well better than nothing I guess.” Evelyn grabbed one of the mugs and took a long drink. She was a little surprised to see Helen down in the lab, and it must have shown on her face. 

“Bob’s on the phone with Lucius. He’s still at the NSA facility. Bob thought he might be able to poke around and find out some information. Even though Voyd is under police protection, the NSA likes to keep tabs on all Supers.”

“Not a bad idea.”

“Provided he doesn’t get caught, anyway. We’ve always had an ... interesting relationship with them.”

Evelyn popped the casing on one of the droids and reached for her screwdriver. “So basically you don’t trust them.”

Helen tilted her head to one side, expression thoughtful. “I trust some of them. As with any large organization, there’s good and bad there. We were very close to the assistant director, Rick Dicker.”

“Mhmm. My brother worked for him for a while.”

“Lucius told us about that.” Helen hesitated. “Was that ...”

“It was before our parents ... passed away. Once Dad was gone, Winston had to come back and run the company.” Evelyn kept her attention firmly fixed on the drone. “I was still in school, and I don’t think anybody was crazy enough to put me in charge anyway.”

Helen sipped her coffee and watched Evelyn work. “Do you know these drones will be able to track Voyd’s powers or is this another educated guess?”

“I know it. First time we had her at DevTech, all our communications equipment went haywire when she made a portal. I had to make some major modifications to my hypnosis tech to account for it.”

“And she doesn’t have any sort of passive tells you can track?”

“Nope.” Evelyn shook her head. “Other than her portals, she’s completely, 100% normal, so far as I can tell. Physically, anyway.”

“Be nice!” Helen scolded, but she couldn’t completely contain the small snort of laughter that escaped.

Evelyn rubbed a hand over her face to hide her own smile. “Whatever she does to create the portals, it’s all in her head, literally. I bet if I could hook her up to an MRI or something, I could get a handle on it.”

“Hmm. I imagine Jack-Jack does something similar when he ports into another dimension.”

“Wait, your kid does dimension jumps too?” Evelyn didn’t bother to hide her smirk this time. “He must be an absolute nightmare.”

“You know, he’s actually not that much trouble for me, for whatever reason. We didn’t even know he had powers until I left to work with you guys.” Helen shrugged. “Bob had quite the time with him, though, from what I understand.”

Evelyn made a final adjustment to the drone and snapped the case back together. “One down, a few to go.” She eyed Helen. “You seem a little calmer.”

“Trust me, I wanted to dash out the door and start looking, but Bob convinced me it made more sense to wait and narrow our search area.”

“Somehow Mr. Incredible doesn’t strike me as the calm and sensible one in your relationship,” Evelyn deadpanned.

Helen twisted her hands together. “I guess I still feel sort of responsible for Voyd. And she’s become part of the family recently, in a way.”

Evelyn raised an eyebrow as she went to work on another drone. “Now that doesn’t surprise me at all, Elastigirl taking in strays.”

“Did she tell you anything about her family?”

“Not a thing, and I didn’t ask. I’m not exactly buddies with Supers.”

“You were with me,” Helen pointed out.

“Everybody makes mistakes,” Evelyn said, but she couldn’t summon up any bite to her tone, and Helen just snorted. 

“Anyway. Voyd’s parents ... they don’t really approve of the whole ‘powers’ thing. She hasn’t been in contact with them for years.”

“So of course you stepped in.” Evelyn flinched and jerked her hand back as she accidentally shocked herself. “That whole hero complex really runs deep for you, doesn’t it?”

“I like to think of it as having an interest in people, more than a hero complex,” Helen replied.

“People are overrated.”

Helen crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “Says the woman who’s killing herself to catch the bad guy before he can hurt her brother, and who made extra tech she didn’t have to in order to find somebody I was worried about.”

“I need Mr. Incredible to test my dangersense theories.”

“Sure. And I bet you really needed to take time out of the lab to play drinking games too, and that had absolutely nothing to do with me.”

“I need you in a good headspace so you can catch this guy before he barbeques me with a side of veggies.” Evelyn pointedly kept her eyes riveted on her work. 

Helen stretched her neck until her head was resting on the table and she could look straight at Evelyn. “Admit it, I’m growing on you.”

“Gah!” Evelyn dropped her soldering iron and nearly burnt a hole in the table. “That is freaky no matter how many times I see it.”

Snickering, Helen retracted her head to its normal position. “I’m just saying. You aren’t as stone-cold as you like to project. In fact, I’d say you’ve been downright friendly.”

“You know, I did try to asphyxiate you,” Evelyn pointed out. “That’s not generally thought of as ‘friendly.’ Have you considered that maybe you’re just a masochist?”

“Oh, no, Bob’s the masochist,” Helen said absently. 

Evelyn stared at the other woman in mild horror. “I really, really did not need to know that.”

Helen flushed red all the way to the roots of her hair as her brain caught up to what she’d said. “Oh wow. Sorry. Definitely didn’t mean for that to come out.” Drawing in a steadying breath through her nose, she shielded her eyes and peeked at Evelyn from between her fingers. “My bad.” She looked torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to run away.

Just as Evelyn was opening her mouth to start mercilessly teasing Helen, Mr. Incredible chose that inpooprtune moment to burst into the lab. Evelyn took one look at him and completely lost it, doubling over on her stool and laughing until tears pooled at the corners of her eyes. Helen lasted a couple heartbeats longer before she started laughing as well, face still buried in her hands.

“Ooh kay,” Mr. Incredible said slowly. “Bad time?”

Helen managed to strangle her laughter first. “Nope ... just ...” she hiccuped, “... long story, don’t worry about it.”

“Right. Anyway. I just got off the phone with Lucius. He was able to get into the records office and check their computers. They didn’t have anything recorded on Voyd’s location, but he was able to get a list of potential safe houses.”

Helen jumped up from the table, tension quickly overriding her amusement. “Great. Let’s go.”

“Hang on.” Evelyn subtly dug her screwdriver into the side of her leg to get her breathing under control. “Let me finish up this drone and you can release them when you go out. Might as well monitor in case something happens.”

Mr. Incredible held out a paper to Helen. “I’ve already put our uninvited guest back in one of the spare rooms. He’s still wearing the goggles, so I doubt he’ll be going anywhere anytime soon. Here’s half the list Lucius gave me - you check these out, I’ll check the others.”

Evelyn snapped the casing of the drone back together. “Here, drop these off downtown - once they’re airborne I can monitor a pretty wide radius. And put that on.” She handed Mr. Incredible a comm unit. “I’ll let you both know as soon as I hear back from Winston. Hopefully he can narrow the list down for us.”

A moment later, Evelyn was once again locked onto her monitors, watching the road whizz by through Elastigirl’s suit cam. She could see the Incredibile on the road just ahead and made a mental note to throw a camera on the car as well. Provided she could do so without Mr. Incredible attempting to remove her head from her shoulders, of course.

She kept an eye on the camera view as she booted up Edna’s big fabricator again. The Supers wouldn’t need her input until Winston called or they needed to coordinate a rescue op, and her discussion about Voyd with Helen had sparked a few ideas about avoiding Incinerator’s danger sense. 

As she plotted out the parts she’d need, Evelyn’s mind was turning over Incinerator’s sudden interest in Voyd. Edna Mode had assumed his initial attack was part of the anti-anti-Super pattern, and originally there’d been nothing to suggest otherwise, but now Evelyn wondered if there was more to it than that. Voyd had singled herself out through her defense of the Screenslaver, but surely there were other Supers and non-Supers who rated higher on a scale of anti-Super sentiment, herself included. 

Evelyn smacked her hand on the table and lunged for the comms. “He knows!”

“Who knows?” Mr. Incredible sounded confused.

“Knows what?” Helen sounded worried.

“Incinerator knows there’s a flaw in his dangersense. He knows Voyd can get close to him before he’s aware of it. It’s definitely related to proximity and physical senses, somehow. That’s why he’s trying to kill her. She’s a threat.”

She heard the bike’s engine rev as Helen shot ahead of the Incredibile. “That should let you pinpoint how to evade his dangersense, right?”

“It helps. It’s good news for me, bad news for Voyd. This isn’t just part of his vendetta against anti-Supers. We probably have even less time than we thought. He’s going to want her out of the picture, quickly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some story timeline notes for you: According to the first Incredibles, it’s been about 15 years since the Superhero Relocation Act. I’ve made the Deavor twins 36 in this fic, meaning they were 21 when the Supers went underground. I’ve made the murder of their father take place around 5 years later. So basically, at around 22 the twins graduate with undergrad degrees, and Winston goes to work for the NSA under Dicker (hence his comment in I2 about his dad being proud of his work with Supers), while Evelyn stays in school to pursue advanced degrees. At 26, Winston leaves the NSA in order to take over DevTech after Deavor Sr. is killed, and he persuades Evelyn to join him as his operations manager upon completion of her PhDs. 
> 
> Also, re: that last bit with the girls laughing at Bob - if anybody’s a Doctor Who fan, I’m just envisioning that moment where Rose and Sarah Jane finally start bonding in School Reunion and Ten walks in and they both fucking lose it and he’s so confused.
> 
> And I know I’ve left Voyd hanging twice now. *hides behind a chair* Sorry!


	12. YOUR SUPERHERO IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE

The sky was just starting to lighten in the east as Helen reached the outskirts of Metroville. She dodged the beginnings of rush hour traffic as she made her way to the first location from Lucius’s list. A few motorists honked horns or called out their windows on seeing Elastigirl, it most of them were too tired or too focused on the coming work day to pay her any attention, for which she was grateful. 

Bob’s voice crackled over her comm. “I’ve reached the first location on this side of town. Doesn’t look promising, but I’ll check around. I’m also releasing the drone here.”

“Rodger.” There was silence on the line for a moment before Evelyn spoke again. “It’s set with an automatic flight pattern. Just toss it up in the air and let it do its thing.”

“Done. I’m going in.”

Helen nearly laid the Elasticycle over as she whipped around a corner and came face to face with a large box truck blocking the road. The workers unloading its cargo cursed at her as she jumped the curb and dodged them on the sidewalk. She gave them an apologetic wave over her shoulder.

“Keep it together, Helen,” she muttered. 

“What was that?”

“Nothing, sorry, just talking to myself.” Helen took the next turn much more conservatively. “I’m almost to my first location.”

“This one’s a bust.” Bob was back on the line. “I’m gonna head for the one on Market Street.”

Helen slowed the Elasticycle as she reached the mouth of the alley leading to her first target. Her instinct was always to go quietly when she could, so she left the bike and hauled herself up onto the fire escape of one of the buildings. The safe house was at the end of the alley. The door was tucked under a large overhand and barred shut, as were the windows, but Helen simply flattened herself out and slipped under the sill. 

The smell of bacon cooking caught her attention as soon as she landed inside what appeared to be the bedroom, and she could feel her anticipation rising, but when she peeked through a crack in the door, the person cooking definitely wasn’t Karen.

“No dice,” Helen whispered into her comm as she retreated. “This one’s occupied, but it’s not Voyd.”

She backtracked to the bike and headed for the next house on the list, frustration growing as she listened to Bob call in another negative. It was unrealistic to expect to find Karen right away, of course, but the longer it took, the greater the chance Incinerator would get there first. 

She heard a click on her comm line, and then Evelyn started talking. “I switched us over to a private channel for a minute. Don’t worry, I’m still monitoring Mr. Incredible’s comm too.”

“What’s up?”

“What I said earlier, about Winston being a good liar ...” Evelyn heaved a sigh. “I don’t want you to think badly of him, ok? He loves you guys, and he’d be crushed if he thought you didn’t trust him or whatever.”

“Which doesn’t run in the family,” Helen said. She was pleased to hear Evelyn snicker. “Don’t mind Bob. He has a lot on his plate right now.”

“Yeah.” Helen heard the comm line click again. “I’ll be right back, Winston’s calling me.”

Thirty seconds later, Evelyn was back on the line. “He thinks she’s on the south side, off Greene Road by the old planing mill. There’s a disused foreman’s house on the property - the police department purchased it a few years back.”

“I’m closer - I’ll grab Voyd, unless there’s a problem,” Bob said.

“On my way.” Helen gunned the bike’s engine and tore through the downtown area, no longer making an effort to stay inconspicuous. She neatly split lanes through the worst of the traffic, ignoring the angry horn blasts and middle fingers that got thrown her way. 

“And you think I drive badly,” Evelyn said quietly.

“I know, right?” Bob chipped in.

“Hey!” Helen exclaimed indignantly. “After we get Voyd back, I’m going to wring both your necks!”

“Ok, I see the mill.” Just as quickly, Bob was all business again. “Hasn’t it been shut down for a while?”

“Since ‘51,” Evelyn confirmed.

“Well, there’s a truck and a few cars in the parking lot. Looks like we’ve got company.”

“Damn it.” Helen gripped the handlebars tight and pushed the bike even faster. “How many?”

“Just one guy standing on the front porch, probably supposed to be keeping a lookout. He’s got a radio. Don’t know how many more are inside the house.”

“Can you get rid of him?”

By the time Helen stashed her bike on the far side of the mill and crept up next to Bob, the lone guard was unconscious on the ground next to him. 

“Any sign of Incinerator?” she whispered.

“Not that I could see.”

“Get closer to the house and I’ll use the scanners on your suit,” Evelyn said. “Although I’ll be shocked if he’s not here.”

“Ready?” Helen asked. Bob gave her a thumbs up, and they both dashed for the side of the house. As soon as Helen drew close, she heard the telltale clicking over the comm.

“Mr. Incredible, I’d recommend you stay close to Elastigirl when you can - that band on her wrist is pushing a field to counter some of the radiation Incinerator is putting out.”

Helen took a deep breath. “Ok, once we go in, there’s no surprise - he’ll know we’re here no matter what. So we have to go in fast and loud, and keep him off balance enough that he can’t set anybody on fire.”

“You get Voyd and get out. Leave Incinerator to me.” Bob rose to a crouch and cracked his neck. “Follow me.”

Dropping one shoulder and pushing off his back foot, Bob went through the side of the house like a human wrecking ball. Helen followed as close behind as she could, one arm over her head to deflect falling debris. They staggered into what had clearly been the living room, and Helen had a brief, confused impression of several people and a body on the floor before something large and heavy slammed into her from behind.

She flattened out as she hit the floor, hearing a dull thud as her attacker’s head struck the ground. Heaving the suddenly dead weight off her back, she scrambled to her feet in time to see Bob lay out two of Incinerator’s henchmen with a well-placed punch. She finally located Incinerator, standing against the back wall of the room with his eyes fixed on Bob.

Helen grabbed the lamp off a nearby end table and whipped it at Incinerator’s head. He ducked and glared at her. 

“Couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you, Elastigirl?”

“You mean leave you to murder more people? I don’t think so!” Helen caught the minute shift of his eyes and threw herself forward in a roll, narrowly avoiding a laser burst from one of the women in the room. Bob grabbed a recliner and tossed it straight into a small knot of people, and with it gone, Helen finally saw Voyd.

She was slumped in a pile on the floor, and for a heart-stopping moment Helen was afraid she was already dead, but Voyd’s shoulders heaved as she drew in a shuddering breath. Helen felt her own knees go weak in relief, and she nearly missed another attacker lunging at her with a sharpened pole. Evelyn’s yell in her ear made her jerk back just in time, and she shot her foot out in an extended kick at his face.

Bob yelled, and she glanced over to see him jumping back, the sleeve of his super suit smoking from twin holes. Helen yanked herself up onto the ceiling and stretched an arm over the crowd to grab the laser woman’s head and bash it into the wall. She was about to drop down and defend Bob’s back when she became conscious of Evelyn talking in her ear again.

“You’ve got to distract Incinerator - he’s focused on Voyd again!”

When she looked over, Voyd was thrashing on the ground, and her skin was starting to look faintly pink, like she’d been in the sun too long. Helen snarled and launched herself off the ceiling straight at Incinerator. She managed to strike him on the shoulder and knock him off balance, but she was immediately yanked back by an iron grip on her arm, and by the time she managed to wiggle free, Incinerator was back on his feet and scuttling to the other side of the room. Bob floored another Super and jabbed a finger at Voyd. 

“Get her and get out of here!”

Helen ran to Voyd, recoiling in alarm when she saw blood on the other Super’s face. She pulled Voyd’s arms across her shoulder and lifted her into a fireman’s carry, staggering slightly as she straightened up. 

“Bob, come on!” she yelled.

“Go!”

She started to run out, but Bob let out a low grunt of pain, and she couldn’t help turning back. He was locked in a stalemate with two other Supers, and behind them, she could see Incinerator concentrating fiercely. Bob’s skin was starting to turn the same sunburnt color as Voyd’s. Helen looked around frantically for something to throw before feeling a light tap against her back.

“Get to the door.” Karen’s voice was wrecked, but Helen experienced another huge surge of relief. “Be ready to run, and I’ll get him out.”

As Helen reached the door she heard a yell of surprise. She risked another quick glance back in time to see a shocked-looking Bob disappearing through a portal under his feet. He dropped onto the lawn in front of her a moment later. 

“I can’t access the Incredibile’s controls, but I’m bringing the bike to you!” Evelyn hollared.

Karen was dead weight on her shoulder, and Helen had a feeling she’d passed out again. Bob regained his feet and lifted the prone Super into his arms. “I’ll take her in the car!”

He sprinted for the planing mill, and Helen threw herself astride the Elasticycle as it roared past. She immediately grabbed the handlebars and went into an evasive pattern as another white-hot laser beam scorched the ground alongside her. 

The Incredible shot past her with its jet engaged. Helen kicked the bike’s afterburner to life and tore after it.

She heard an odd _thump_ over her comm that, after a few puzzled seconds, she realized might have been Evelyn’s head hitting a solid surface.

“Well that took twenty years off my already shortened lifespan,” Evelyn said dryly. “Are you both in one piece?”

“I think so.” Helen took stock. Judging by the sticky feeling on her face, she’d reopened the cut on her head from the DevTech basement collapse, and she could feel a few spots that would probably be bruised, but overall, she was in fairly good shape.

“Bob?”

“Feels like I’ve got a sunburn, all over.” She could hear the frown in his voice. “I’m more worried about Karen, though. She’s out cold.”

“I’m not much of a medic, but since I don’t think it’s a good idea to take her to a hospital anywhere, I’ve prepped whatever I can think of that may help.” They could hear Evelyn moving around, and the sound of running water. “Bring her straight upstairs when you get here. I’ll try to treat the burn and dope her up with something for the radiation exposure and pain.”

#

By the time they’d suspended Karen in cool water to slow her burns and bundled her into one of Edna’s spare beds, she was mostly awake and lucid. Evelyn stuck an IV in Karen’s arm and declared herself to be at the limit of her medical usefulness before retreating back to the lab. Bob volunteered to pull some sort of breakfast together so that Helen could keep an eye on the patient.

“I can’t believe ... that was just really terrifying ... thank you so much for coming to get me.”

Helen gingerly wrapped an arm around Karen’s shoulders, trying not to disturb the bandages over her burns. “Of course we came to get you. I’m so sorry it took us as long as it did.”

“How did he even find me?”

“It’s a long story,” Helen sighed. “Why don’t you try to get some rest, and we’ll explain everything we know.”

Karen's eyes widened briefly, and Helen gripped her hand. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here when you wake up, ok?”

“Ok.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frankly it’s a miracle I got this chapter together, no thanks to certain people - you know who you are, you Discord bastards! (j/k, love you guys)
> 
> Yeah, so, the good news is, Voyd’s rescued! And she’s only a little banged up! (Please don’t shoot me.)


	13. LAUGH OUT LOUD, THERE’S NOTHING ELSE TO DO

When Bob shook her awake a couple hours later, Helen nearly bolted out of her chair before remembering that Karen was safe and mostly sound with them. The younger Super was still dead to the world, so Helen slipped into the hall with Bob.

“How are you feeling?” she whispered. His skin still had a slight pink tint to it, and she hesitated in hugging him, wanting to avoid aggravating his burns. Bob wrapped his arms around her shoulders instead.

“I’m ok. Evelyn summoned me downstairs after you fell asleep and made me swallow a bunch of pills, which was a little alarming, but she swears up and down they’ll help mitigate any radiation exposure.” Helen felt a rumble of laughter in his chest. “Then she told me I was, and I quote, ‘a fucking inconsiderate moron’ and that I should go and check on you, and then she snarled at me until I left.”

Helen rested her head on Bob’s shoulder and snorted. “That sounds like Evelyn.” One of Bob’s hands was running through her hair while the other stroked small circles on her back, and Helen was pretty sure she could fall back asleep standing there in the hall. 

“I’m sorry I took off like that,” Bob said quietly. “You’d think by now I would have learned.”

“Hey.” Helen drew back so she could look him in the eye. “I get it. I wanted to wring this guy’s neck too. But let’s ... can we just forget about him, for a little while? Just for right now.”

Bob tugged her close again and rested his chin on the top of her head. They stayed locked together for several minutes until a growl from Helen’s stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten anything since dinner the day before.

“I made waffles.” She could hear the smile in Bob’s voice. “Want me to bring some up for you?”

“Waffles sound amazing.”

When Bob returned with enough waffles to feed a small army, they settled onto the chaise at the far side of the room, close enough to keep an eye on Karen while they ate, but far enough not to disturb her while they talked. Helen tucked herself against Bob’s side and soaked in his comforting warmth, although she did smack his hand when she felt it land on her ass.

“There are children present!” she hissed. The wide-eyed, overly innocent look Bob gave her in return made her shake her head. “You’re incorrigible.”

“What can I say? I missed you.” Bob winked.

“And whose fault is that?” She stretched up and gave him a quick kiss to take the sting out of her words. They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Bob spoke again.

“So tell me,” he said, the overly casual tone of voice putting Helen instantly on guard, “how’s it been, working with Evelyn the past few days?”

Helen narrowed her eyes. “I feel like there’s an ulterior motive to this question.”

Bob shrugged. “You seem to be getting on well, is all.”

“I didn’t think so, at first. She’s prickly. And mean. And probably still hates me.”

“Judging by the tongue lashing I got, I don’t think she hates you.”

Helen frowned. “I don’t know what that’s about, to be honest.”

Bob gave a noncommittal grunt. “Talk it out with her.”

Pursing her lips, Helen sat up so she could turn and face Bob fully. “Why are you concerned about this? You haven’t made any secret of what you think about her.”

“Neither have you.” Bob cocked his head and gave her a knowing look. “We’ve been together for eighteen years. I know when you’ve got somebody in your sights.”

Helen could feel her face heating up as she took Bob’s meaning, and realized she probably looked as sunburnt as he did. She stole a quick look at the bed to make sure Karen was still sleeping. There were some things that just did not need to be shared.

“Fine. I was considering it - before she tried to kill us!”

“Why didn’t you? Would’ve been fine with me, I didn’t have anything against her at the time.”

The comfortable chaise was starting to feel uncomfortably like an interrogation seat, and Helen tipped her head against the back of the lounge and closed her eyes to avoid having to look at Bob as she spoke. “You were stuck at home with the kids, and I was out doing what you wanted to be doing already ... somehow, it just felt like cheating. All the other times I’ve played with someone else, you were with me, or you had someone else yourself, or you plain just weren’t interested.”

The corners of Bob’s mouth tightened briefly. “If this is left over from Mirage, from me sneaking off to Syndrome’s island ...”

“No, Bob, this was me. It just didn’t feel right at the time, you know? Besides, I should never have doubted you about Mirage, and I think we laid that to rest.”

Bob smirked. “We definitely laid it, but there wasn’t much resting going on, if I recall.”

Helen punched him hard in the arm and scowled when he gave an obviously exaggerated wince.

“What? I’m just trying to help you feel like that had some effect.”

“Remind me why I married you again.” She had to fight to keep a straight face when he waggled his eyebrows.

“Well, I think we’d better wait until there are no children in the room for that.”

“Oh my god.” Helen couldn’t hold it together any longer and muffled her face against Bob’s shoulder to keep from waking Karen up. He put his arm back around her and pulled her close to his side. Curled up with him, Helen felt secure enough to finish the conversation. 

“Are you asking about Evelyn because you think I’m still interested?”

“I know you are. I know you, remember?” 

“She almost killed me, Bob.” Helen sighed and twisted her fingers in the fabric of his shirt. “I was flirting with her last night. She was ... I think she was legitimately trying to cheer me up, in her own twisted way. And ... it was like we were back at DevTech, before everything went sideways. What does that say about me?”

“You want my honest opinion?” Bob said.

“Of course.”

“It says you’re human. Feelings don’t just go away at the drop of a hat. You spent a lot of time with her, you made friends. Developed a crush -“ she squirmed as he prodded her gently in the ribs “- yeah, she betrayed you, but all that other stuff doesn’t just go away.” Bob cleared his throat. “Not to say you should ignore what she did, either. But don’t beat yourself up for being attracted to her.”

Helen exhaled slowly, trying to clear her thoughts. “It just ... I mean, am I crazy?”

“Yeah, you kinda are.” He tightened the arm around her shoulders briefly. “But everybody’s entitled to do a few things in life that aren’t entirely rational. And it’s not like either one of us hasn’t fallen for a bad guy before. Remember Prestige?”

“You two were cute together.” Helen smiled fondly. “I don’t think a social activist and Robin Hood-type is quite on the same level as attempted murder and sabotaging all Supers, though.”

“She was hurting, and she did some stupid things. But though luck or fate or her own subconscious holding her back, nobody was seriously injured. And I know she’s helping you to keep her brother safe ... but I don’t think that’s all there is to it.”

“Saved my bacon at least once during that fight today,” Helen admitted. “When did you get so mellow toward villains?”

Bob ran a hand through his hair and frowned. “Seeing Syndrome - Buddy - again, tracking Incinerator, I had plenty of quiet time, and it really made me think, you know? How life might’ve been different if I’d been kinder to Buddy. How easy it was for me to lose sight of what I should be doing and focus on revenge. It’s crazy,” Bob said with a short laugh, “but in a way, I’m responsible for more Super deaths than Evelyn ever tried to cause.”

“You are not responsible,” Helen said sternly. When Bob didn’t respond immediately, she gave his arm a little shake for emphasis. “Syndrome made his own choices, Bob. Don’t take that on.”

“I know, I do. But you see what I mean. What if I believed in him and gave him a chance, instead of scorning him?”

“So you think I should roll with a crush on a villain to prevent creating a super villain?”

Bob chuckled. “That’s not exactly what I was getting at, although it can’t hurt. But if you want to be friends again, give it a try. And whatever happens, happens.”

Helen wrapped her arms around the back of Bob’s neck and stretched until they were face to face. “You are one smart guy.”

“I know I am. I married you.” He pressed his forehead to hers. She leaned forward the last little bit to bring their lips together, but before she could lose herself in the kiss, Helen heard rustling and a low groan from the bed.

“Wow, I feel like I got hit by a truck. Like, a truck that was on fire, probably.”

Bob’s soft expression morphed into a wide smile. Helen wrinkled her nose and dropped her head onto his shoulder briefly before straightening up.

“Later,” she whispered. Bob winked at her before gripping her by the waist and setting her gently on her feet. 

“Hey, did somebody make waffles? Because it smells like waffles and I really hope that’s not a sign of a head injury because I’m actually pretty hungry now.” Karen struggled to sit up on the bed. “Oh thank god you do have waffles!”

#

Bob offered to sit with Karen for a while so Helen could get a shower and empty her mind for a bit. Hot water and a change of clothes went a long way towards clearing the cobwebs, and she had every intention of crashing on the couch and staring at nothing, until the sight of the waffle maker gave her a guilty start. She seriously doubted Bob would have ventured back down to the lab after being chewed out once already by Evelyn, and equally, she doubted Evelyn would have pulled herself away from whatever she was doing in order to eat a decent meal.

Helen was reluctant to face Evelyn with everything Bob had said still fresh on her brain, but she could hardly let her starve. Ten minutes later, she had a tray loaded with cereal, fruit, and coffee. She balanced the tray against one hip and knocked on the doorframe as she entered the lab, determined not to startle Evelyn this time.

Which turned out to be a good idea, since she found Evelyn elbow-deep in the electronics of the Elasticycle. Her hair was frazzled again, and Helen caught herself wondering if Evelyn did it deliberately to enforce the mad inventor vibe. She realized Evelyn was watching her with one eyebrow raised while she was busy woolgathering and hastily set the tray down.

“You know, I distinctly recall telling you not to antagonize my husband.”

Evelyn switched her gaze to the tray, and the other eyebrow went up as well. “I believe in telling things like they are. If someone is a moron, they shouldn’t be walking around not knowing it.”

Helen snorted quietly. 

“I am surprised to see you down here, though? How’s V- Karen?”

Pulling up a chair, Helen settled herself next to Evelyn’s work table and stole an apple slice off the tray. “She’s ok, I think. Feeling the effects from the fight, for sure, but I think we got there before Incinerator did too much damage. I was concerned about a head injury, but she seems with it.”

“Good, that’s good,” Evelyn said absently. “I’ve made up a couple more radiation shields.” She jerked her head toward the counter along the wall. “I did some work on a couple potential systems for blocking Incinerator’s dangersense as well. If everybody’s feeling up to it later we can do some testing with Bob.”

“Oh, so he’s not Mr. Incredible any more?” Helen said in a deliberately perky tone. Evelyn side-eyed her.

“After I got done treating his radiation poisoning he pointed out that all the yelling would take less time if I used the shorter name, and I do try to take constructive criticism on board.”

Helen tucked her feet up so she could sit cross-legged on the chair. “Why?”

“Well, you may have missed this bit in school, but ‘Bob’ actually only has one syllable, while -“

“Evelyn.”

Her jaw clenched briefly before she turned back to the bike. “I told you. I need you in the right headspace if we’re gonna catch Incinerator.”

Helen waited her out, letting the silence settle around them, broken only by the tiny metallic sounds as Evelyn tweaked the bike’s wiring. She could see from the stiff set of Evelyn’s shoulders and the deliberate way she kept her head turned that the other woman was avoiding her, probably hoping she’d leave.

Finally, Evelyn let out a small sigh. “You really did look like shit last night.”

Not the most flattering sentiment, but Helen could read between the lines. She decided to let Evelyn off the hook, for now.

“Well, in any case, you certainly caught Bob off guard.”

“I know.” Evelyn’s head tilted toward her, and Helen could see the crinkles at the corner of her eye. “I’m actually not sure I’ve ever seen Mr. Incredible speechless before.”

“It’s pretty rare, I’ll grant you.” Helen stretched an arm out and gently lifted the screwdriver out of Evelyn’s hand. “Hey, come eat this before the milk goes bad.”

Evelyn muttered something under her breath about mothering, but she pulled up another chair and popped a grape into her mouth. Helen nodded in satisfaction. 

“I’m thinking I need to attach some additional cameras to your suit,” Evelyn said between bites. “It was pure luck that I spotted that pole before it went through your face.”

“Thanks for that, by the way,” Helen said.

“Can’t have you dying on me before we finish the plan.” Evelyn’s smile was sly, and Helen flicked a pineapple slice at her.

“So what are you doing to the bike?”

“Just a few upgrades based on experiences thus far. Which reminds me, I’d like to stick some cameras on the Incredibile too. And possibly Bob and Karen.”

“Probably not a bad idea. We’ve still got to catch Karen up to what’s going on.”

“Do we even know what’s going on?” Evelyn rested her chin in her hand. “Every time we turn around, something else crazy happens.”

Helen shook her head. “Incinerator is good, but he can’t stay ahead of us forever.”

“We’ve just been reacting so far.” Evelyn prodded at her cereal with the spoon. “We need to be proactive. Get him on the run.”

“That could be a challenge.”

“I have a few ideas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fluff to help everybody recover after the stress of the last couple chapters. Hopefully that was enough fluff for both the Helen/Bob crew and the Hevelyn crew (sidebar: why don’t Helen & Bob have a good ship name).
> 
> I don’t know if I have as good of a grasp on Voyd’s character as I do some of the others. She just has so much less screen time to work with, and half her time she’s not herself. But I’m doing the best I can with her, because she’s adorable, so hopefully it works.
> 
> Well, my dudes, the ball is rolling on the Hevelyn ship, finally. It’s got a few speed bumps to hit, yet, but it’s left the gate. I said from the beginning I didn’t want to harm the Parrs’ relationship - I know several fics have latched onto the idea of an open relationship, which I think is awesome. For mine, I wanted to express that this isn’t a new decision for Bob & Helen - in the Flexibility world, they’re well established in this pattern, and they’re both active participants. I wanted to keep any stress over Evelyn on Helen’s part squarely on the broken relationship between the two of them, rather than have her wrestling with hurting Bob. The Parrs have some really solid relationship moments, and you can tell from their behavior, particularly at times when they each thought they’d lost the other, or times when they’re very in sync, that they’re still really in love even after fifteen years of marriage. I don’t see Helen developing that level of feeling for anybody else, especially not over a relatively short period of time - but I can 100% see Elastigirl falling into bed with a one night stand here and there (with Mr. Incredible’s blessing, of course).
> 
> Yikes that was a long author’s note. And I don’t want to give away the whole plot, but sometimes it’s nice to know roughly where a fic is going - everybody ships a little differently, and if you invest time in following a story, you don’t necessarily want the ending to come out of left field.


	14. CLEANUP IN AISLE 14

They ended up on Edna’s back porch. Evelyn had tried to resist being dragged outdoors, but Helen had insisted that they all needed a change of scenery, and that the fresh air would be good for Karen.

Clutching her ever-present coffee cup, this time spiked with rum, Evelyn draped herself across the only lounge chair situated in the shade. She hid a smile behind her mug when Bob screwed his eyes shut as he sat down and got a face full of sun.

She hadn’t necessarily intended to start a fight with Mr. Incredible, regardless of what she’d told Helen earlier, but when she’d brought Bob to the lab to treat his radiation exposure, Evelyn’s mind had immediately flashed back to watching Helen cry. Her logical mind told her not to get involved, while her heart reminded her of all the time she’d spent crying over choices her family members made, and Evelyn had snapped at him before she thought better of it. He’d surprised her, though, by listening with a serious expression and no interruptions, and he’d actually thanked her as he left. For the first time Evelyn got an inkling of what might have drawn a fierce, independent Elastigirl to Mr. Incredible. 

Evelyn was still cautious around Bob, but she had a feeling they might have moved past the point where she had to worry about being broken in half.

Karen staggered out the door, still obviously in pain. Helen followed in her wake, watching her with obvious concern.

“Oh, good, she has someone else to mother now,” Evelyn grumbled under her breath. Bob went into a sudden coughing fit, and when she looked at him, she had a feeling he was covering up a laugh. Helen shot them both a suspicious look.

“You know what? Actually I don’t want to know.” She shook her head and sat down. 

It took them nearly an hour to bring Karen up to date on everything they knew or suspected about Incinerator. She’d been put in the safe house well before Lucius had encountered him, and whether through incompetance or conspiracy, the local news hadn’t yet focused on the pro-Super bias of the attacks, so they had a lot of ground to cover. She’d been a little leery of Evelyn, but she also seemed prepared to follow Elastigirl’s lead in the matter.

Evelyn let the Supers do most of the talking. She was still turning a few things around in her head, trying to put herself in Incinerator’s shoes. Without thinking, she blurted out a question, interrupting Helen.

“Incinerator didn’t try to use his powers on you before we got there, did he?”

All three of the Supers stared at her for a moment, and then at each other. Karen frowned.

“No, he didn’t. They surprised me - one of them hit me in the head before I could jump out. I can’t ... my powers don’t work very well if I’m really tired, or drunk, or I guess if I get hit in the head.” 

“But Incinerator didn’t try to burn you?” Bob asked.

“No. He just had one of the other Supers ... beating the shit out of me, pretty much.”

The arm of Bob’s chair snapped off with a metallic twang, causing all three women to jump. 

“Bob.” Helen’s voice was full of warning, and Evelyn watched the pair lock eyes in a wordless conversation. Bob took a deep breath and eased back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. Karen was wide-eyed, looking back and forth between them like she was viewing a tennis match. 

“The good news is, that probably kept you alive.” Evelyn took a sip of her coffee. “The bad news is, I think Incinerator knows that we’re tracking him via his powers. He might not know how, exactly, but he had to be wondering after Elastigirl just happened to show up at DevTech in the middle of his robbery.”

“He probably knows by now that we kidnapped one of his pet cops, too,” Helen pointed out.

Bob frowned. “So you won’t be able to find him any more?”

“I can still detect trace amounts of radiation in places he’s been, and from him, if any of my sensors get close enough. I don’t think he can control the low-level radiation he puts out. But if he’s aware that we’re detecting his powers, somehow, he’s probably going to keep getting other Supers to do his dirty work, which means no more big power surges.”

“Can you track any of their powers?”

Evelyn shrugged. “Dunno yet. I’m still reviewing the footage I got from Helen’s suit camera. But, I think this is going to give us an opportunity.”

Helen leaned forward. “How so?”

“Incinerator seems to like dealing with things up-close and personal. Even when he wasn’t planning to use his powers on Karen, he still came with them. He could have sent people to break into DevTech, but he came himself. And he obviously went to my house before he sent Centurion back.”

All three Supers were nodding their heads as she talked. “So you think we can lure him out?” Bob asked.

“I think we need to spit in his face. Make him angry. Wave the red flag in front of the bull, if you will. We challenge him, flaunt the fact that we’re challenging him ... he’s going to have to come out and face us down, if only for his own ego.”

“If we do that, though, we have to be prepared for a fight,” Helen said. “He’s got a lot of Supers with him, and if he’s coming to kill us, he won’t be shy about using his powers.”

Karen raised a hand hesitantly. “I don’t know how much I’m going to be able to do for the next day or two.”

“You’re not doing anything except resting for now,” Helen replied firmly.

“Really, it works out fine.” Evelyn jerked her thumb over her shoulder toward the house. “I have a lot of stuff to finish, I need to do some testing on Bob’s dangersense, and we need to get some more scanners out around the city. I’d really love to know where Incinerator is holed up. We need a few days to prepare before we do this.”

Bob glanced at Helen again. “I assume you need both of us to test whatever theories you have about Incinerator’s dangersense?”

“Eventually. I have a few more things to tweak. First I’d like to get a few more drones released around the city.”

“We can do that.” Helen stood and gave Karen a hand up as well. “Let’s get you settled on the couch so you can rest, and then Bob and I will head out.”

#

Before she turned them loose on the city, Evelyn had insisted on adding a few cameras to Bob’s Super suit, as well as upping the number on Helen’s. She’d been eyeing the Incredibile as well, and Helen suspected she wanted to patch into the controls, but she also didn’t seem inclined to push Bob any further than she already had.

Armed with a list of locations to release the drones, Helen sped off toward the city. It was a beautifully clear day, and she felt like the weather was tuning into her mood. True, she realized, they had a lot to do before Incinerator was in the bag, but they had a plan, and that always made Helen feel more secure. Karen was safe from Incinerator, or as safe as they could make her. Plus, she had Bob back, which was a massive weight off her shoulders. 

She was a little alarmed at how quickly Bob had zeroed in on her conflicted feelings about Evelyn. Then again, Bob had known her for a long time, which gave her hope that she wasn’t as obvious to anyone else, particularly Evelyn. 

That situation would require a lot more thought. Bob was right - she had been interested in Evelyn from the first time they’d met. And it was also true that she’d had conflicted feelings before over people who weren’t necessarily on the side of the angels. But her mind kept jumping back to a few moments of blind terror when she’d felt the life draining out of her and been absolutely certain she was going to die. 

She’d been in plenty of life-threatening situations before, but there had always been some action she could take, some way to fight back. Suffocating slowly, realizing her body wouldn’t or couldn’t respond to her thoughts, couldn’t do anything but passively watch as somebody she’d thought was a friend let her die - that had been a different experience, and one that she was anxious never to repeat. 

Helen hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself, at the time, but she’d been listening when Evelyn had her trapped in cold storage. She’d been paying attention to every word, every motion, every facial tick, every detail that shouted all the pain Evelyn was keeping bottled up behind the anger she projected towards Supers. And that woman, she could empathize with. That woman, she was honest enough to say, might have actually had a point. And she could forgive Evelyn a lot. But the callous way she’d almost ended Helen’s life was another story. 

Shaking her head in irritation as she realized she was driving away her own good mood from earlier, Helen brought her concentration back to the present. Traffic was light, and she was easily able to dodge cars, throwing a wave to the occasional motorist who honked or waved at her.

She got off the freeway near the downtown area and found traffic snarled up around a large patch of road construction. It didn’t look as though the jam would clear any time soon, so Helen opted to park the Elasticycle and pull herself up to the nearest rooftop. 

Bob’s voice crackled through the comm in her ear. “Hey, my route’s taking me right by the NSA - I’m gonna stop in and check up on Lucius.”

“Tell him ‘hi’ for me,” Helen said. 

“Will do.”

She heard a click on the line. “I’ve switched over to a private channel while he’s in the hospital so we aren’t distracting him.”

“Fine.” Belatedly Helen wondered if it was a good idea for Bob to wander into a high security government facility wearing Evelyn’s cameras. Then she shrugged. It wasn’t like Evelyn couldn’t break into their system if she were so inclined. 

Helen could hear typing and the hum of the big fabricators over the line. “What are you working on now?”

“Hmm? Oh, just ... hang on ...” A loud crash and some swearing and Evelyn was back on the line. “... just one of my dangersense theories.”

“Doing ok there?”

“Great. Just some technical difficulties.”

Chuckling under her breath, Helen released the first of the drones and launched herself from her current rooftop to another building across the street. She wanted to get closer to the Metroville Performing Arts Center before releasing the next one. The Center was set to do a presentation series about Supers starting the next week, and it had been on Edna’s list of potential high profile Incinerator targets.

She heard another crash on the line. “Ok, seriously, what are you doing? Edna will kill me if you destroy her lab, and then you, and then me again.”

“I’m ... ok, it’s basically a giant rubber band gun, I’m not gonna lie.”

“I can’t quite work out whether I should be alarmed by that,” Helen said dryly.

Evelyn snorted. “I have sensors set up to mimic what I think are the most likely reasons for what we’re calling a ‘dangersense.’ The challenge is to screen you from detection, made more difficult by the fact that your body is not a consistent shape. Your radiation blocker, for example, only outputs the isotope field in a limited radius around you, but since you spend the majority of your time in a normal body shape, it’s largely effective. When we’re talking stealth, though, if it doesn’t block your entire body no matter what shape you take at all times, it’s functionally useless. One incautious stretch and the game’s up.”

“That doesn’t really explain the rubber band gun.”

“I’m stretching sheets of rubber out, and one side pulled free from the clamps. I’ve had a look - everything that broke can be replaced, and I’m rich.”

As she released the next drone over the Arts Center, Helen contemplated all the ways Edna might decide to make her suffer. 

“By the way, there’s a bunch of guys hovering around the Elasticycle.”

Helen’s heart sped up immediately, and she started back toward the bike’s location. “Incinerator’s guys? Are they trying to sabotage it?”

“Don’t think so.” Evelyn snickered. “If I had to guess, I’d say they’re fans, waiting to meet Elastigirl.”

A surge of relief washed over her, followed immediately by annoyance. “You couldn’t have led with that?”

“I literally said something about it as soon as I noticed them. Besides, watching you bolt across rooftops is always fun, in a vertigo-inducing sort of way.”

Helen dropped down into an alley and waited until her heartbeat and breathing had slowed before heaving a resigned sigh and walking back to her bike. Sure enough, the small crowd of guys around the Elasticycle started nudging one another and chattering almost immediately.

“Look, there she is.”

“Told you this was her bike.”

“Damn, that suit is tight.”

Taking a very firm grip on her temper, Helen gave them a bland smile. “Hey guys! If you’ll excuse me, duty calls, so I’m just gonna grab my bike and head out of here.”

Most of the guys backed off, but the one that had made the suit comment was still standing uncomfortably close, and Helen mentally rolled her eyes. Years of dealing with entitled assholes hadn’t made it any easier. There was always one idiot in a group.

Egged on by the watchful eye of his friends, the man grinned at her. “Can I buy you a drink sometime?”

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Oh come on, don’t be like that.” He grabbed her upper arm as she walked by. “Just trying to show my appreciation for a hero protecting the city.”

“Duly noted.” Helen thinned her arm and slipped it out of his grip. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Bitch.” She heard the comment, and it took every ounce of willpower she had not to turn around and sock him, especially when he continued, “But hey, at least she’s got a great ass, right?”

Helen clenched her jaw and ignored them as she started the Elasticycle’s engine, but a moment later she heard an odd crackling noise from the back of her bike, followed by a loud _thump._ When she turned around, the man was writhing on the pavement. 

Evelyn’s stifled laugh sounded over the comm.

“Evelyn, what did you do?”

“Me? Not a thing.” Evelyn’s voice dripped with false innocence. “Seems your bike had an unfortunately timed malfunction.”

“Oh for god’s sake.” Helen kicked the bike into gear and pulled away. “So much for keeping a low profile.”

“Somehow I didn’t picture Elastigirl meekly accepting bad behavior.”

“I’ve been in this game a long time. I’ve learned to pick my battles. Idiots like that just aren’t worth it.” Helen took a longer route around the traffic jam, headed for her next drone release point. “Besides, keep that up, I’ll start thinking you’re jealous.”

“I’m completely secure in the fact that you would choose me over him any day. And please take that in the spirit in which it was intended, which is a massive insult to that pig.”

Helen fought to keep the smile off her face. “Also, when were you going to tell me this bike has a built-in taser?”

“When it became relevant. As it just did.”

This time, Helen didn’t bother to hide her laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y’all ... more fluff. Seriously, I’m getting diabetes. But a little bit of fun and a little bit of thoughtfulness on Helen’s part too, so hopefully it balances out. 
> 
> I basically put the last bit in because I cannot imagine that Elastigirl wouldn’t get catcalled and borderline harassed on a regular basis. I imagine she’s had to develop a pretty thick skin over the years.


	15. YOU STICK TO YOUR GUNS WHEN THEY’RE AGAINST MY HEAD

“Are you sure this isn’t going to electrocute me or something?” Bob was eyeing the wires that Evelyn was currently taping to his arm with some misgivings. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he held up his hands. “I’m just saying.”

Evelyn had questioned Bob extensively about his dangersense, but she hadn’t been able to get much solid information. The best he could come up with was a nebulous feeling when things weren’t right, and as Helen had indicated to her already, it wasn’t infallible. It also triggered in the presence of most Supers, regardless of whether or not Bob considered them a threat at any given time. Her current best guess was some sort of endocrine system response to chemical reactions from other Supers’ powers, but she was hoping to narrow it down.

“I’m monitoring skin temperature, chemical compositions, brain waves, and yes, electrical impulses,” Evelyn said, “but it would take considerably more power to even shock you painfully, let alone electrocute you. I’d like to be monitoring blood chemical changes as well, but I can’t exactly stick a needle in your arm.”

Helen looked up from where she was reading the monitors. “Edna might have something around here that can stick him.”

“Hey!” Bob said indignantly. Helen’s hand reached over to pat his cheek.

“Sorry, but you know we need to figure this out.”

Evelyn studied the lab thoughtfully. “You might be right ... if I can break the skin with something else, I can get a needle in and do a blood draw.” She moved to Edna’s storage cabinet and rifled through her stock of heavy sewing needles. She found a set labeled for Kevlar and grabbed the largest gauge, along with the smallest IV cannula she had. A quick burst of flame from a propane torch sterilized the needle.

“Ok, I’m going to try to hit a vein with the sewing needle, and then I’ll need to pull it out and get the cannula in straightaway.”

Bob stretched out an arm that Evelyn was pretty sure was bigger around than her entire body on the table, and she frowned as she prodded at the mass of muscle in his forearm. 

“Flex, if you would,” Evelyn said. He clenched his fist, muscles and veins popping out. “Perfect.” She swabbed the inside of his elbow and grabbed the needle, but when she tried to stick him, it was like trying to stick a concrete slab. Bob watched her struggle for a moment before holding out his other hand.

“Show me where you want it and I’ll do it.” 

Evelyn traced the largest vein in the crook of his arm. “Right here, about an inch below the crease of your arm.”

Bob jabbed the sewing needle into his arm with a slight wince, withdrawing it as soon as she gave him the nod so that Evelyn could slip the cannula in. She blew out a breath in satisfaction when blood welled up in the tube. “Got it.”

“I haven’t had a shot in ... it’s been a really long time, in any case.”

“I bet you were a nightmare for doctor’s offices when you were a kid.”

Helen laughed quietly. “He’s still a nightmare, but fortunately he doesn’t get sick much.”

“Remember that barbecue?”

“When you chopped off your fingers and scared the neighbors silly?” Helen shook her head. “We’d just moved,” she explained to Evelyn, “and about a week later, one of the neighbors wanted to have a neighborhood cook-out. I got into an argument with somebody there, and Bob got distracted and ended up chopping his hand with a meat cleaver. Fortunately he kept ahold of it and we got out of there without too many awkward questions or a trip to the hospital.”

“Yeah, but I still had to wear a cast on my hand for months,” Bob grumbled. 

Evelyn couldn’t help her smile while listening to the story, although she straightened it quickly when she noticed Helen watching. She realized with some alarm that she was actually enjoying listening to Helen and Bob as they bantered back and forth. She hadn’t spent much time with Mr. Incredible, but she’d done a lot of research on him in preparation for Winston’s Super legalization scheme. Everything Evelyn had watched and read had given her the overwhelming impression that Mr. Incredible was vain, brash, glory-focused ... in short, exactly the type of hero she despised. 

Bob Parr, on the other hand, was a down-to-earth, friendly guy - a next door neighbor type - with a surprisingly soft underbelly, for all his power. His anger over Voyd’s treatment at the hands of Incinerator had startled her, and Evelyn was suddenly immensely grateful that, for whatever reason, he didn’t seem interested in exacting revenge on her for what she’d done to Helen. There was a lot more to Mr. Incredible than met the eye, Evelyn was starting to realize.

Helen was another story entirely. Elastigirl has always been astonishingly sincere, even when she was younger. The media had turned a successful female crime fighter into a regular circus, but underneath it all, Elastigirl had always been about helping people, whether by fighting crime or inspiring those that looked up to her. Evelyn had been fully braced for the immense effort it would take her to pretend to get along with such an altruistic type, but Helen had caught her off guard. Things had been easy, comfortable, even. 

The moment she realized that Helen had wormed her way inside the wall of anger Evelyn kept reserved for Supers, she’d doubled down on her plans. She would not fall victim to the same weak, dependent mentality that killed her parents. And now, here she was again, surprisingly comfortable in the presence of Supers, and if she were honest with herself, being drawn right back into Helen Parr’s orbit.

Evelyn shook her head angrily, ignoring Helen’s questioning look, and forced her attention back to the monitors. Karen wandered in as she started the blood draw on Bob.

“You should be resting!” Helen said immediately. 

“I’m ok, just a little woozy if I stand up too suddenly,” Karen said. “Besides, I’ve been watching soap operas all day - I need a break. Daytime television is terrible!”

Letting the conversation flow around her, Evelyn concentrated on the readings she was getting from Bob’s monitors. He’d experienced a noticeable adrenaline jump just before Karen had walked into the room.

“Hey, both of you leave the lab for a minute. Go upstairs and come back.”

Bob cocked an eyebrow at her as Helen and Karen trooped out. “Got something?”

“Maybe.” Evelyn kept an ear toward the door and her eyes on the readouts, trying to gauge when the reaction would occur. She saw Bob’s adrenaline levels spike again, and a moment later, heard footsteps as the other two women returned. 

“Ok, so it’s probably a reaction in your endocrine system.” Evelyn tapped her finger thoughtfully against the monitor. She wanted to test Bob’s reaction to an actual danger, to see how it might be different, but that would take some additional planning. Mostly to make sure nobody in the room would kill her before she could explain that she wasn’t really attacking them. 

She tuned the rest of the room out again as she worked, speaking only to direct Helen to use her powers occasionally, cataloging and planning. Karen kept up a nonstop running conversation in the background, with only occasional input from the other two, which didn’t seem to bother Bob or Helen. Then again, Evelyn supposed, they had three children. They were probably used to distractions.

“... and I mean, Winston’s another one.”

Evelyn paused as she heard her brother’s name, focusing on Karen’s chatter. 

“He did jump out of a plan to help us. He’s a pretty good guy,” Karen said. 

Evelyn was thankful she had her back to the room, because she didn’t think she could have controlled her expression. She gripped the edge of the counter until her knuckles turned white, fighting the urge to lash out. She’d successfully managed to repress her thoughts on that particular moment, but hearing it brought up so casually by Karen was wreaking havoc on her self control. Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t hear Helen approach her, and started violently when the other woman’s hand landed on her shoulder.

“You ok?” Helen said quietly.

“Fine.” Evelyn shrugged off the hand and raised her voice slightly. “I’ve got plenty of data. You all might as well get out of here and leave me to work in peace.”

She busied herself detaching the monitors from Bob, all the while studiously avoiding Helen’s gaze as the other woman watched her for a few minutes with obvious concern. Eventually Helen nodded. 

“Ok, if that’s what you want. I’ll call you when I’ve got dinner ready.”

“Don’t bother.” Evelyn heard the ice in her voice and saw the Parrs exchange a quick look, but she couldn’t bring herself to pull her facade back together to reassure them. She held her breath until they were all out of the lab. Unceremoniously dumping the monitoring equipment, Evelyn lowered her forehead to the table and fought the urge to cry.

#

Dinner was a quiet affair. Karen seemed to have blown through her earlier burst of energy, and was now listlessly picking at her food between jaw-cracking yawns. Bob hadn’t said anything when Evelyn had abruptly kicked them out of the lab, but Helen could read the concern in his eyes, and she knew he was merely biding his time until Karen went back to bed. 

Helen wasn’t sure precisely what had set Evelyn off at first. She’d been relaxed and almost happy earlier, reminding Helen of their first few meetings at DevTech. Evelyn’s softer aspect had been eclipsed pretty quickly, first by her conspiratorial and borderline seductive shift toward Helen, and then by what Helen had assumed was her real face, the angry, focused villain, so she’d been more than a little surprised to see it make a comeback. Inventing and problem solving made Evelyn genuinely happy, Helen was realizing. The different faces she’d seen of Evelyn weren’t masks, they were sides.

But something had brought Evelyn’s brooding anger back to the surface, and it wasn’t until she was nearly done eating that the answer struck Helen. 

As soon as Karen had finished her dinner and made her good nights, Helen turned to Bob. “It was Winston. That’s what set Evelyn off.”

“Why would thinking about her brother get her upset? He’s, like, probably the only person she’s 100% on board with.”

“Remember what Winston told us, about their parents? About their mom, specifically?” Helen sighed. “Karen didn’t know, of course.”

Bob’s eyes widened. “No wonder she threw us out.”

“I should go talk to her.”

“Or not. We were kind of the reason that happened. Might be best to let her cool down.”

“What, you don’t think she’s going to sabotage something down there?” Helen rubbed a hand on the back of her neck, digging her fingers in against the sudden tension headache she could feel forming. 

“No, I really don’t,” Bob said. “She’s had plenty of chances to do that already. Let’s just give her some space.”

They snuggled on the couch and put on a movie, but Helen’s mind kept drifting back to Evelyn. She felt restless, unsettled, and she knew Bob sensed her agitation, but he said nothing. She lasted through one movie and part of a second before she couldn’t take it any more. 

“I’m ... dammit, Bob, I’m worried about her. Not that she’s going to do anything bad to us. But she has a self-destructive streak.”

Bob leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “Go, do your hero thing. Help people. _Talk_ to her.” He stretched and stood up. “I’m going to bed, because I’m pretty sure she does not want me as part of this girls’ night. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Helen squeezed his hand before making her way to the basement stairs. She took a deep breath, trying to mentally steel herself. Evelyn was a minefield on good days, let alone now. When she reached the lab, the lights were off, and she wondered if Evelyn had somehow managed to sneak past them to her room before catching a small movement at the table. 

Helen tapped on the doorframe. “Can I come in?”

Evelyn was a dark shadow against the lighter bulk of the fabricator, her face lit in profile by the bluish light of her monitors. Her head swung briefly toward Helen before she turned away. The radio was on, which surprised Helen, particularly when she realized she could hear the twangy sounds of bluegrass music.

“It’s not my lab. I can’t stop you.”

Stepping inside, Helen took note of an empty bottle of absinthe tipped over on the counter, as well as another partially full one. She was used to seeing Evelyn with a drink in hand, but something about the dark room and the unusual beverage choice struck her oddly.

“I just wanted to check on you. We hadn’t seen you since this afternoon. I know you said not to call you for dinner, but I do have leftovers -“

“What do you want? I told you I didn’t need anything. And don’t tell me it’s because you’re worried about me or some bullshit.”

Clamping a lid on her temper as it flared in response to Evelyn’s ire, Helen took a long, slow breath and held it for several seconds before responding. “Actually, Evelyn, funny enough, given that it’s late and you’re sitting in the dark, listening to bluegrass, and binge drinking Edna’s stock of high-proof absinthe, yes, I have some concerns.”

Evelyn let out a short bark of laughter, but there was no amusement in the sound. “When you put it like that ...” She reached over and switched off the radio. 

Helen hesitated in the silence. She wanted to walk away, to go crawl into bed next to Bob and feel his comforting warmth, to close her eyes and rest. But the same curiosity and inexplicable attraction that kept pulling her back toward Evelyn kept her feet firmly planted, interlaced with worry. Evelyn seemed genuinely distressed, and for the good of the mission, as well as her own personal feelings, Helen wanted to get to the bottom of it.

“You know, Karen didn’t mean anything by what she said,” Helen started cautiously. “She’s ... really not the type to hold a grudge. She’s just young, and impulsive, and her mouth gets ahead of her brain sometimes. It wasn’t anything aimed at you.”

“She -“ Evelyn cut herself off and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s done.”

“Whatever’s eating at you ... it does matter. You’ve helped us, you’ve helped me. But even apart from that. We were friends, at one point. Or we could have been. I care, you know? Probably more than I should, considering.”

“Considering ... what? That I’m evil? That I hated you? That I tried to kill you? Spit it out. You know,” she continued without pause, “it’s interesting, the things people won’t talk about. They feel like they have to dance around certain subjects.” Evelyn’s back was to her, but Helen suddenly realized she was crying. “Like my mom, for example. ‘Heartbreak.’ That’s one way of putting it.”

Helen swallowed hard, knowing she needed to tread cautiously. “Winston told us, later, what actually happened.”

“Really.” Evelyn’s voice was flat and controlled. “Did he also tell you I was the one to find her?”

Helen drew in a sharp breath of air through her teeth before she could moderate her reaction. The stark difference between Winston’s melancholy but fond attitude and Evelyn’s anger over their parents suddenly snapped clearly into focus.

Evelyn shifted, and Helen guessed she was rubbing a hand over her eyes. “So you see why I might be a little sensitive about my brother jumping out of a plane in front of me.”

Clasping her hands firmly in front of her to resist the urge to reach out, Helen opened her mouth before realizing she didn’t know what to say. Part of her wanted to comfort Evelyn, while the other part wanted to shake her and demand to know how she could try to put another family through the same kind of pain she was in. She must have made some small sound or motion, because Evelyn finally turned toward her, expression impossible to read in the dim blue light. 

“Either get out, or,” she motioned towards the bottle of absinthe, “catch me up.”

The words were cold, but Helen detected something in Evelyn’s demeanor, the same thing she’d caught a glimpse of the night they sat drinking, Evelyn trying, in her own way, to comfort Helen. She let her eyes trail around the lab.

“Fine, but if we’re getting drunk, we’re moving to the comfortable chairs.”

#

Evelyn didn’t know what had possessed her to invite Helen to stay. She’d had every intention of throwing the other woman out and drinking herself into a blackout, and now she was settled into one of Edna’s padded basket chairs and watching Helen wrinkle her nose in mild distaste as she took a sip of absinthe. 

“Really, you couldn’t have picked anything else?”

Holding up the bottle, Evelyn tapped a finger on the label. “170 Proof was the best Edna’s stock had to offer.”

Helen grimaced. “You realize we’re basically drinking paint thinner.”

“Says the vodka girl.”

The dim lab made it difficult to see the micro expressions on Helen’s face, and Evelyn was grateful for it. She knew her own face was struggling to maintain its emotionless mask, and she didn’t need Helen dissecting her any further. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Helen said.

“No.” Evelyn spoke carefully, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “You’re supposed to be drinking, not talking. Bottoms up.”

“Evelyn -“ Evelyn pointed firmly at the glass. Helen sighed and took another small drink, and Evelyn couldn’t help snorting at her clear distaste.

“Fine, if you’re going to be that way about it. Truth or dare?”

“You can’t be serious.” Helen gave her a long look that she had no trouble interpreting even in the low light. “What is it with you and drinking games anyway?”

“Right now, I’m just trying out a compromise. You want to talk, fine, we’ll talk. But we’ll do it my way. Because the whole point of this is to get drunk off my ass.” Evelyn clamped her jaw shut before she could let anything else out.

“You’re such a child,” Helen muttered. “Fine. Truth.”

“How many women have you slept with?” She wanted to strike hard and distract Helen from any dangerous lines of questioning. Evelyn watched in amusement as Helen’s jaw dropped slightly, but she recovered quickly. 

“Picking up right where we left, I see.” Closing her eyes, Helen started counting under her breath, and now it was Evelyn’s turn to be surprised again.

“I ... honestly didn’t think it was going to take you that long to come up with a number. I’m impressed, Elastigirl.”

“Twenty-eight, I believe ... Nope, hang on, twenty-nine.”

“Well damn. Who knew?” Evelyn threw back a shot. “And those were all before Mr. Incredible, huh?”

“Ah, ah. That’s another question.” Helen wagged a finger. “You wanted to play, you stick to the rules.”

“Well, then.” Spreading her hands, Evelyn shot Helen an inquiring look. 

“Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

Helen leaned forward and refilled Evelyn’s glass to the brim. “Down it.”

“Wow, I didn’t peg you for the send-me-to-the-hospital type.” Tipping her head back, Evelyn gulped the alcohol, squeezing her eyes shut and gripping the arm of the chair as it seared her throat. “Oh god, that’s awful.” She leaned forward until her head was touching her knees, fighting a momentary urge to puke. “What the hell was that in aid of?”

“You don’t want to talk, fine,” Helen said sarcastically. Evelyn felt both of her eyebrows shoot up. She’d gotten accustomed to Helen’s quiet care and concern - it was easy to forget that Elastigirl had some sharp edges to her as well. Helen took a drink herself for Evelyn completing the dare.

Evelyn refilled her glass and sipped, just to assert that she still could, trying to ignore the sudden throbbing in her head. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

She wanted to hit Helen from another angle of attack, but the last question was nagging at her, and Evelyn cursed herself for thinking with something other than her brain, even as she asked the question.

“Were all twenty-nine before Mr. Incredible?”

“No.”

Evelyn waited, but Helen was clearly determined to play hardball and not offer up anything more than strictly necessary. With a huff, Evelyn took her shot.

“Truth or dare?”

Helen’s eyes flickered warningly toward the bottle again, and Evelyn’s stomach lurched. No matter how much she wanted to beat Helen at whatever game they were playing under the guise of Truth or Dare, she was afraid another straight glass really would send her to the hospital. 

“Truth,” she said reluctantly. 

“Why are you so interested in my history?”

 _Bluff called._ Evelyn mulled over her options for a moment. _Raise the bet._

“I thought I made that pretty obvious at DevTech,” she said. 

“You hate Supers.” _You hate me,_ but Helen left it unspoken.

“I believe that’s another question,” Evelyn said with a smirk. She motioned to Helen’s glass. Helen took a larger drink than normal. “Ok, you know the drill. Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” Helen kept managing to catch her off guard. Evelyn hesitated for a long moment, before smiling.

“A back rub.” She caught the brief expression of surprise on Helen’s face before it was schooled into nonchalance. “I’ve been pouring over gadgets for days. Feeling a little tight.”

Helen didn’t say anything, just lifted her hand and made a twirling gesture with her finger. Evelyn dragged her chair closer and sat cross-legged, with her back turned to Helen.

She wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from Helen, but when firm fingers dug into the muscle of her shoulders and upper back, Evelyn nearly melted. The massage request had mostly been meant to unsettle Helen, but Evelyn was suddenly quite sure she could die happy if Helen would only keep working those flexible hands into her back. She had a knack for zeroing in on the knots along Evelyn’s spine, and Evelyn had to bite back a groan as one hand wrapped around the back of her neck and scratched lightly at the base of her skull, pinpricks of pleasure radiating up through her head. The long nights in the lab had taken more of a toll on her than she’d realized.

Helen’s hands spread out across Evelyn’s back, stroking along her shoulder blades and sending shivers down her spine. Evelyn nearly jumped out of the chair when the tips of Helen’s fingers brushed lightly against the outside of her breasts as she ran her hands up Evelyn’s sides, and she had fight down the urge to lean back against Helen. _Dammit._

With a firm shake of her head, Evelyn pulled away before Helen could get any more points up. “Ok, I think you’ve fulfilled that dare.” Her voice wasn’t entirely steady, but Evelyn blamed it on the alcohol. “Truth.”

“I hadn’t even asked yet.” Helen sounded slightly smug. “But since you’re so anxious - what’s your number?”

“Women, or total?” Evelyn saw Helen’s eyes widen slightly.

“Huh, I’d assumed you only batted for one team.”

“Oh I do, I’ll give you that one for free.” Evelyn could see the obvious question in Helen’s eyes and chose to ignore this one. “Women ... six. And no, none of them were wearing goggles at the time.” She meant it to come out sarcastically, but between her inebriation and the way Helen put her off her game, Evelyn realized she’d missed the mark. Helen turned her head away, and Evelyn swore she felt the temperature in the room plunge. 

She mentally slapped herself. Serious was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid. It was easy - too easy - for her to relax and let her guard down around Helen, and now she was pretty sure she’d ruined whatever truce they were having. So Evelyn nearly dropped her glass when Helen spoke again. 

“Truth or dare.”

“Um-“ Evelyn hesitated, off balance. She nearly pointed out that it wasn’t her turn before for once managing to clamp down on her instinct to sarcasm.

“Truth. Or dare.” Helen wouldn’t look at her, but her voice was firm. 

Evelyn thought for a moment. She couldn’t fathom why Helen wanted to continue the game, but whatever the reason, she doubted another ridiculous dare was behind it.

“Truth.”

Helen’s jaw tightened, and when she finally turned her head, Evelyn was stunned to see that her wide brown eyes were slightly watery. Her voice was still firm, however.

“Why did you try to kill me?”

Evelyn physically recoiled. Of all the things she’d expected to deal with tonight, that hadn’t been on the list. She briefly considered taking a drink and declining to answer, or even getting up and walking away, but something in Helen’s expression gave her pause. Helen was undecided, Evelyn realized. She was contemplating some choice, and if Evelyn walked away right now, she had a feeling she’d never have another opportunity to experience the easy camaraderie they’d had together at DevTech, that they were beginning to recapture here. And with enough alcohol in her, Evelyn was honest enough in her own mind to admit she would miss it. Despite her feelings about Supers, despite everything ...

If she wanted to keep it, she would have to come clean.

“I ... I was in a bad place. Mentally, I mean. You’d just managed to destroy my plan - I did exactly the opposite of what I intended. Instead of making your position weaker, I gave you the strongest endorsement I could have.” Evelyn stared into her glass, hoping it would give her some answers. “So I grabbed Winston, and I ran. I wasn’t even trying to escape ... jail, or whatever. I just couldn’t sit there and watch heroes save the day. But when we got to the plane, and Winston -“

Her voice cracked, and Evelyn had to stop talking. Helen was still watching her with a thoughtful expression. Screwing her eyes shut, Evelyn took a deep breath. She needed to say this.

“Winston jumped out of the plane, and it scared the hell out of me. We were already in the air - he could have seriously hurt or killed himself. And realizing that my brother would rather risk his life than stay anywhere near me ... that cut really deep. And then you showed up. The author of my destruction.” 

Evelyn twisted her hands together around her glass. Helen’s silence was unnerving, and Evelyn could feel a bone deep hurt in her chest. She hated this - feelings, people, they were Winston’s department, not hers. She hated being vulnerable, to anyone, for any reason. 

“You were right there, and you had ruined everything, made my only family abandon me ... and the worst thing was, I did sort of trust you. Working together ... you’re good at what you do. And you’re just plain good. If I had to put my life into anybody’s hands - yours would be the most trustworthy. And I fucking hated that. I still hate it. It’s the attitude that got my father killed.” Evelyn set her glass down and rubbed at her temples. “But that’s on me, not you. I’m just afraid. Because if I blame myself, and acknowledge that you were just the catalyst ...”

“Then you feel like you have to blame your father for what happened. Because the superheroes were just the catalyst.”

Evelyn buried her face in her hands. “I hate him. And her. And it would be so much easier if I didn’t still love them.”

“And so, with me ...”

“If I blame you, I don’t have to face the fact that I nearly killed my brother.” Evelyn heaved a breath that was almost a sob. “I don’t know if I would have let you die or not. Part of me still regrets that I didn’t succeed. Part of me is horrified at the fact that I feel like I’m betraying everything about myself because, yeah, I could be friends with a Super. But, whatever’s going on in my head, you didn’t deserve that, your family didn’t deserve that ... I’m sorry.”

Evelyn kept her face in her hands, not brave enough to look up. She heard Helen stand up and felt her stomach lurch. She should have known. There was no going back -

And then she felt a slim arm across her shoulders, and Helen’s head was leaning against hers. “Let’s get you up to bed, ok?”

It took a combined effort to get Evelyn on her feet, and she swayed unsteadily, feeling the full effects of the absinthe. Helen pursed her lips, but with their faces suddenly close together, Evelyn could see the slight crinkle at the corner of her eye that told her Helen might almost be smiling.

Helen hesitated for a moment, and then her arms were around Evelyn’s body and Evelyn was resting her head on Helen’s shoulder and feeling more than hearing a soft “I forgive you” in her ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the reference to the barbecue is obviously the alternate opening for the first Incredibles. I always thought that was cute, and it made a change to have Helen be the cause of nearly getting busted for once. 
> 
> Was this enough of an emotional roller coaster for y’all? I know there were some serious tonal shifts in this chapter, particularly the second half, but I kinda feel like that’s how Evelyn would operate. Helen can crack the shell a little, but then Evelyn has to pull back, give herself some breathing room from the emotions. Then Helen pries a little more ...it’s a process. And hopefully Helen didn’t seem too off during the game. She’s been trying to be soft with Evelyn and not getting very far. Sometimes people need some tough love to get them where you need them to be. But they’re on the other side of the hump now. I’m not big into angst, but that had to be done - Evelyn did try to kill Helen, and it’s not consistent with either of their characters to just ignore it or leave it unresolved. But now that they’ve gotten through it, we can get back to the good stuff - Hevelyn ship and fun team interactions and busting Incinerator’s ass.
> 
> (Also don’t come after me with a pitchfork over Helen’s number. The Parrs are swingers in this ‘verse, and their superhero identities are basically celebrities. They’d have had a decent number of options to pick from.)


	16. PLEASE CHECK TO SEE IF YOU’RE STILL BREATHING

Helen woke up very late, and considerably more comfortably than she had the previous day. For one thing, she was stretched out across Edna’s excessively large bed. For another, Bob’s arm was slung over her waist, and she could feel the gentle rise and fall of his chest against her back. 

The throbbing behind her eyes was just enough to remind her that she’d drunk too much the night before, but Helen couldn’t really be upset about it, even as she flailed around for a pillow to bury her head under. She vaguely recalled wrangling a nearly comatose Evelyn into her bed. Briefly, she’d considered sleeping on the couch in Evelyn’s room, but she suspected the other woman would want space, particularly after the raw ending to their impromptu game.

Bob shifted next to her, and she heard his breathing pick up for a moment before he nuzzled his face into the back of her neck, warm lips pressing into her skin.

“G’mornin’,” he mumbled. “When’d you come to bed?”

“Late.” Helen withdrew her head from the pillow and rolled over, tucking into Bob. His bulk helped block the sunlight streaming through the windows, and she sighed in relief. “I put Evelyn to bed and sat with her for a while.”

“Mmm, you worked quick.”

“Not like that.” Helen poked him in the stomach and chuckled when he jerked reflexively. “More like, made sure she wasn’t going to lapse into a coma or choke on her own vomit, left a couple Advil on the table.”

“Ouch. That bad, huh?”

Helen stretched her arm over Bob so she could snuggle up to him. “Lot of alcohol and a lot of tears. But I don’t think it was bad. She’s too protective of Winston to actually talk to him about any of her problems, and she avoids getting close to anybody else. There was a lot of stuff she needed to get out.”

“And what about you?” Bob cracked on eye open to look at her. “Did you get the answer you were looking for?”

“I think so. I got one I can live with, anyway.”

“Good.” Bob tugged her closer, hitching her leg up over his hip. “Now, were you planning to rush off and take care of everybody, or,” he trailed his hand up her thigh, “can I persuade you to stay for a bit?”

Helen slipped her hand under the hem of his shirt and ran her nails lightly down Bob’s back. “I’m open to suggestions.”

#

By the time they finally made it downstairs, the afternoon sun was waning, and Karen had nearly destroyed the kitchen in an attempt to cook what Helen guessed was supposed to be bacon and eggs. She put Bob in charge of microwave clean-up and repair, sat a dejected Karen down at the table, and went to work on omelets instead. 

“I am so sorry about this,” Karen groaned. “I don’t know what happened!”

“A hidden bomb in the eggs, from the looks of it,” Bob said.

“Bob!” Helen gave him the evil eye. “Karen, honey, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

They managed to get breakfast on the table without any further casualties. As she started in on her omelet, Helen was shocked to see Evelyn appear in the doorway. She was almost completely swallowed up by a hugely oversized sweater, her hair was plastered flat on one side and standing straight up on the other, and Helen suspected that she might have walked all the way to the kitchen with her eyes closed. Still, given the amount of alcohol she’d consumed the night before, any level of consciousness was impressive.

Evelyn staggered over to the table and dropped heavily into a chair, seemingly oblivious to the looks she was getting from the other three. As soon as she sat down, she laid her head on the table. Helen waited for a few moments to see if she would say anything, and when she didn’t, tentatively tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey ... you alive?” 

“Hurts too much to be dead.” Evelyn rolled her head slightly toward the sound of Helen’s voice, but didn’t open her eyes. “Thanks f’the meds.”

“No problem.” Helen kept her voice low. “Do you want to maybe try eating something?”

Bob grabbed a spare plate and dished up another omelet. He set the plate down gently next to Evelyn’s head. She started to open one eye before quickly snapping it shut again.

“Ow.”

Helen stretched out and tugged the blinds down, dropping the room into semi-darkness. “Try that again.”

Evelyn managed to keep the eye open this time, and after a long pause and a couple of quick, shallow breaths, she slowly lifted her head off the table.

“Remind me never t’do that again.”

“Anybody ever mentioned you might have a drinking problem?” Karen chipped in. Bob dropped his head into his hands, and Helen winced.

Evidently Evelyn was still in too much pain to eviscerate Karen, though, because she contented herself with a sideways look. “Don’t have a drinking problem, s’a people problem. Drinking’s how I manage it.” She speared a forkfull of omelet and forced herself to take a bite.

Helen wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Evelyn quite so disheveled, and she hesitated at the first word that came to mind before remembering that she was allowing herself to think it now. _Cute._ She caught Bob watching her with the ghost of a smile on his face and nudged his shin with her foot under the table. He dropped one eyelid in a slow wink.

“Gonna take me a while to get my head in gear,” Evelyn said. 

“You might ought to go back to bed for a while,” Bob pointed out. “It won’t do you any good to work when you’re hungover.”

“Can’t.” Evelyn gave a very small shake of her head. “I’ll be fine in a bit.”

Bob shot a questioning look at Helen, and she shrugged in response. Evelyn caught the byplay between them, and a hint of her normal sharpness surfaced.

“I have had hangovers before, you know.”

“And how many of those were brought on by paint thinner and a grim determination to destroy your liver?” Helen said wryly.

Evelyn laughed and immediately looked like she wished she hadn’t, cradling her head in her hands. Helen snorted.

“Serves you right. Eat your omelette.”

#

The relative peace lasted until they’d finished breakfast. As Helen was washing the dishes, she heard the TV click on, and a moment later, Karen’s worried voice.

“Hey, guys, maybe you should come see this!”

She had the TV switched on to the local news. There was a recap of a local sports game, but Karen was pointing to the news ticker running across the bottom of the screen. 

_“Break-in at VersaLife’s Metroville biotechnology research lab; no word on what was stolen, if anything.”_

“Isn’t that ...”

“The cover name for the NSA facility, yeah.” Bob grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels, trying to find one that was actually discussing the story. Helen rubbed at the back of her neck and scowled.

“It’s too big of a coincidence that somebody just happens to break into the NSA in the middle of all this.”

Evelyn’s scratchy voice cut in as she shuffled into the room and curled up at one end of the couch. “In a way, that’s probably good news - if this is Incinerator, and he had to break in, it probably means his corruption hasn’t gotten as far as the NSA.”

“I’m going to try to call Lucius, see if he’s still there and if he knows anything.” Bob slipped out of the room, and Karen retrieved the remote to continue channel surfing. Helen took the opportunity to settle on the couch near Evelyn.

“How are you doing,” she said quietly, “aside from the hangover of the century?”

“Just can’t leave it alone, can you?” The words were snarky, but Evelyn’s slight smile let Helen know she wasn’t as irritated as she pretended to be. “I think I’ve had enough oversharing to last me the next ten years, but if you want to pick back up with the massages, feel free.”

“I may take you up on that sometime,” Helen murmured, and she was rewarded with a flash of surprise on Evelyn’s face.

“How promising.”

Bob came back shaking his head. “Can’t get through. I may have to go over there in person.”

“If they’ve gotten ahold of the NSA’s Super database ...”

“I know.” Bob rubbed his hand over his face. “He could have the identities and details of every Super.”

Evelyn tugged her oversized sweater a little more tightly around her shoulders. “Guess that’s my cue to get back in the lab and finish those prototypes.”

“Are you sure you’re up to it?”

“Don’t have much of a choice, do we? I’ll be fine. Couple gallons of coffee usually does the trick. Just coffee, nothing extra,” she added, correctly interpreting Helen’s skeptical expression.

“Fine.” Helen rolled her eyes. “I want to scout around the safe house where we found Voyd, see if Incinerator left any clues behind.”

Karen chimed in. “This is how people get killed in movies, splitting up.”

“That’s really encouraging.” Evelyn heaved herself up off the couch and glanced at Helen. “She’s kind of right, though, maybe you should take her along for backup.”

Frowning, Helen started to object. “It’s only been a couple of days, I’m not sure -“

“Oh I’m fine. Totally fine! Much better!” Karen jumped up off her chair and tripped over the coffee table. “That always happens.”

Helen realized it was a lost cause. “Fine. But no using your powers unless it’s an emergency.”

#

She wasn’t used to driving a motorcycle with a passenger anymore, and Helen had to constantly tell herself not to cut her corners too sharply or accelerate too quickly when she felt Karen’s arms tighten around her. A car cut in front of her suddenly, and Karen’s helmet tapped against the back of her head when she braked too hard. It was a reminder that other people weren’t as durable on a bike as she was either.

The planing mill was deserted when they pulled up in the parking lot, but Helen felt the tension in Karen’s body when they rounded the building and caught sight of the safe house. 

“You ok?”

“Yeah.” Karen sighed. “That was just ... really scary. I don’t know what would have happened if you guys hadn’t showed up.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter, because we did,” Helen said firmly. She switched off the bike’s ignition. “You stay here and keep an eye on things. I’m going to pop inside and have a quick look around.”

“You got it!”

As Helen walked away from the bike, she heard a telltale click in her comm. 

“That girl has the biggest crush on you.”

“She does not!”

“Does toooo.” Evelyn’s teasing cut off as she went into a coughing fit. “Oh god, that hurts.”

Helen snorted quietly. “Serves you right.” She stepped gingerly through the remains of the wall Bob had smashed on their way in. “Besides, she’s practically a baby.”

“She’s 23.”

“Like I said, baby.” 

Evelyn laughed. “Well, in any case, you-“ She cut off abruptly. Helen tensed up.

“What is it?”

“I’m picking up some surprisingly strong radiation traces, considering that it’s been a decent interval since Incinerator was there.”

“Do you think he might have come back in the interim?”

“To what purpose?” She could hear Evelyn scribbling on a paper. “He had plenty of time after you all left to do whatever searching he wanted at the house.”

Helen noticed a charred spot on the floor and kicked over a few chunks of fallen ceiling to get a better look at it. “You’d have to check the video from the fight, but I think he was standing here when Karen dropped Bob through that portal.”

“Hmm. Might be. Tilt your body toward the floor so I can get a better look at it.”

Evelyn was silent for a few minutes, presumably studying the camera feed. Helen swiped at the ash on the floor.

“I don’t remember this happening during the fight. It’s like he randomly torched this spot after.”

“That might be exactly what he did!” Evelyn sounded more alert. “I think he lost his temper. Which was a huge mistake.”

“How so?”

She could hear Evelyn shuffling more papers and the frantic tapping from the keyboard. “Because now we can follow him. That burst of power is what caused the radiation traces to linger so strongly. If I can just use the sensors on your suit ...” more tapping, “... I think ... I can ... Yes!”

Helen felt a surge of excitement. If they could actually track Incinerator, figure out where he was hiding ...

“Ok. Get your bike, we’re gonna see how well this works.”

Under Evelyn’s direction, Helen and Karen wove through the outskirts of Metroville, pausing every so often to allow the sensors to recalibrate. The radiation levels were dropping off the further they went from the safe house, but Evelyn was able to steer them all the way to Metroville’s port facility before the trail went completely cold.

Stashing the bike in an empty utility shed, Helen crept through the facility toward the warehouses lining the waterfront, Karen following at a decent interval to watch for any observers.

Evelyn had switched them all back onto an open channel. “I tried to call Bob, but he must still be at the NSA. He’s not answering his comm.”

“Keep trying, but until then, we’ll see what we can find out,” Helen whispered. 

The first few warehouses they checked were filled with shipping containers, and the third had what appeared to be a disassembled 727 airliner. Helen was about to make her way to the fourth warehouse when Karen tapped her on the shoulder and pointed out into the bay. A large container ship was anchored about a thousand yards offshore, and even at this distance, Helen could see the spotlights trained on the surrounding water and, far more ominously, the gun turrets at the bow and atop the bridge. Tiny figures passed routinely in front of the ship’s lights, and Helen was willing to bet they were armed guards.

“That’s a lot of security for a cargo ship,” Karen whispered.

Helen automatically opened her mouth to suggest that Karen open a portal to the ship before remembering all the reasons they couldn’t. She stole a quick glance at Karen - she was doing ok so far, but as soon as things got stressful, she could relapse. And there was still the problem of Incinerator’s dangersense, if he really was on the boat. 

Evelyn seemed to read her thoughts. “How are you with swimming?”

“It’s open water all around, well-lit, and those guards look pretty alert. I’d be spotted before I got anywhere near them.”

“Get back to the bike and check the saddlebags. I’ve got a closed circuit rebreather in there.”

“I ... What? Why?”

“Well I designed it with avoiding smoke inhalation in mind, but it’ll function just fine for a swim like this. You won’t be diving deep.”

Helen retrieved the rebreather and stationed Karen at the edge of the dock in the shadow of the big warehouses. “I’ll have you guys on the comms. If anything goes wrong, Voyd, you open a portal for me right back here, and we run for it. You’re still recovering, and we can’t risk getting tied down in a fight, especially without Mr. Incredible.”

“I’ll send him over as soon as I can get ahold of him,” Evelyn promised.

Dropping down to the lower level of the pier, Helen studied the container ship and the surrounding landmarks for a few minutes, making sure she could orient herself once she was in the water. She slipped the rebreather mask over her face and felt an immediate sense of panic well up. Vague memories of struggling for air swam at the back of her mind, and she started quietly hyperventilating as she fought the urge to rip it back off.

“Slow, deep breaths.” Evelyn’s voice in her ear was oddly reassuring, despite its owner being at the root of her anxiety in the first place. “If I ever try to choke you again, it’ll be face to face, promise.” She’d obviously guessed where Helen’s thoughts had gone.

Helen snickered quietly, the tight ball of panic in her chest easing slightly. “That is not even remotely comforting,” she lied, voice oddly muffled through the rebreather. “You have a terrible bedside manner.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

Drawing in a deep breath, Helen slipped off the pier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I fake y’all out with the opening, just a little? Sorry, Helen’s not quite ready to wake up next to Evelyn juuuust yet - especially not after the copious amounts of alcohol they consumed. Elastigirl just doesn’t roll that way. 
> 
> As always, thanks so much for reading! Hearing from you guys brightens my day and makes it so much more fun to write!


	17. YOUR DISCOMFORT IS A CROSS I’M WILLING TO BEAR

The water was cold, colder than she’d expected, and Helen had to fight the urge to jump right back out. She wrapped one arm around the pier support to steady herself and took a bearing on the ship and the large buildings to either side of the bay. The low vantage point of the water combined with a choppy surf made it hard to see, and she wanted to strike the ship close to the bow so she could use the anchor chain to board.

Helen swam on the surface until just before the edge of the spotlights’ beam. Taking another deep breath through the rebreather and snorting through her nose to clear her ears, she flipped over and dove straight down. The water was murky, and she had to submerge deep enough to avoid the lights without going so far that she lost track of where the ship was. 

Once she could just make out the light rippling on the surface, Helen reoriented and swam toward the container ship. A gentle current tugged her toward the mouth of the way, and she turned slightly against it. She’d been swimming long enough to wonder if she’d veered off course when the surface light winked out as she passed into the shadow of the ship. She kicked upward, keeping one hand over her head to make sure she didn’t smack into the hull as she surfaced.

The port bow loomed overhead, and Helen spotted the anchor right away. Unfortunately, it was secured against the side of the ship. She tried to stretch up and reach it, but her water-chilled arms rebelled, and she hissed in irritation.

“What’s wrong?” There was no real reason for Evelyn to be quiet, but her voice was hushed when she spoke over the comm.

“I’m too cold from the water. I can’t reach the anchor chain.”

Evelyn sounded baffled. “What do you mean you can’t reach the anchor chain? Isn’t it in the water?”

“If it were, would I be treading water complaining about it?” Helen snapped. “It must be moored on the other side.”

“You ... never mind. Get to the front of the ship - there’s usually a bulbous bow on these things. If you can climb up on that, you might be able to get enough of your body clear of the water to warm up.”

With a couple of false starts due to the muck built up on the bow, Helen managed to haul herself up and mostly out of the water. She shivered slightly in the brisk wind, but it was a relatively warm night, and Evelyn was right - it wouldn’t take her long to warm back up to a working temperature. 

“Have you thought about what exactly you’re going to do if you hop over the side of the boat and run smack into Incinerator?”

“Jump back in the water, obviously.” Helen’s teeth chattered briefly, and she rubbed her arms furiously, trying to speed the warming process. “Besides, I’m not planning to hop over the side. I’ll go in through the anchor port and stay hidden - we just need to know if he’s here, and it shouldn’t take you long to pick up the background radiation if he is.”

Evelyn made an ambivalent noise. “It’s a big ship - you’re looking at a thousand feet or more bow to stern, probably a hundred and fifty foot beam. You may have to do some hiking.”

Helen wobbled and nearly lost her balance on the bow as a small wave washed against the hull. “As long as your Geiger counter can sense him before he can sense me ...”

“I’m quite confident of that.” Evelyn muttered something else under her breath that Helen didn’t quite catch. 

“Come again?”

“Haven’t come the first time.”

“Oh my god.” Helen let her head fall back against the hull of the ship with a dull thud and wished she could redirect the sudden heat in her cheeks to the rest of her body.

“Sorry, but you have to admit, you set yourself up perfectly for that.”

Helen pressed her fingers to her temples. “I know you’re all about making my life difficult and uncomfortable, but has it occurred to you that we have company on this line?”

Evelyn snickered. “Oh come on, I’m not that irresponsible - no need to corrupt the youth. I switched back over to the closed line while you were paddling around.”

“Why, so you could aggravate me?”

“Nah, mostly because Voyd started humming the Elastigirl theme song under her breath and I didn’t want you to punch one of the guards and blow your cover.”

Another shiver wracked her, and Helen made a small noise of discomfort. In addition to her damp skin, the metal hull of the ship was radiating a chill as well. 

“Still cold? I’d offer to help warm you up, but, you know, I’d have to ask Voyd to open a portal ...”

“Are you drunk again?”

“God no, even I have limits.”

Helen tentatively tested her arm’s reach. She still felt stiff, but when she stretched upward, she could get within thirty feet or so of the anchor fluke.

“Another few minutes and I should be able to climb up.”

“Great. In the mean time, what’s the deal with these women that came after you supposedly settled down?”

“Really?” Helen snapped. “You want to do this now?”

She could almost see Evelyn’s shrug. “You’re basically a captive audience right now. I’ve spent a lot of years in business - I know how to take advantage of an opportunity.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“To be perfectly honest, my head hurts like a bitch and I’m about thirty seconds from passing out at any given moment here, so I’m basically trying to stay awake and keep my brain engaged. Staring at a Geiger counter waiting for it to jump isn’t really doing it for me. It’s either this or a staple gun to the hand. So humor me.”

Letting out a deep sigh, Helen raised her eyes skyward for a moment. “So you’re blackmailing me with a stapler.”

“You’re a hero type, and a mom. I figured both would preclude letting me nail my hand to the table. Also it would be really hard to use this keyboard.”

Despite her irritation, Helen couldn’t help laughing. “Fine, you win. Yes, Bob and I have an open marriage.”

“Interesting. Wouldn’t have pegged you two for the type.”

“What, we seem too old and boring?” Helen tried her reach again and was relieved to find the tight feeling in her arms was fading. Hooking one leg around the bow protrusion, she leaned out and whipped her hand up to catch hold of the ship’s anchor. She landed lightly on top of the flukes, pausing to listen for any sign that she’d been detected before flattening herself out and sliding into the chain locker.

“Ok, I’m in.”

“Crew area will probably be under the bridge, about three quarters of the way back on the ship. I’d stay off the deck if I were you - I’m looking through Voyd’s cameras and it seems crowded.”

The hatch to the chain locker was stiff, and Helen didn’t want to risk a loud noise, so she stretched up and slid out through the ventillation shaft into the ship’s cavernous main hold. There were stacks of shipping containers across the hold, separated by wide aisles. Helen jumped up to the top of one of the stacks and leapt lightly across the gaps between them, headed for the stern.

“Nothing notable on the Geiger counter yet, but then again, I doubt Incinerator’s bouncing around on top of those crates,” Evelyn whispered. “And no, I don’t think either of you are particularly old or boring. Honestly, you just seem too in love.”

“This is the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had about this,” Helen whispered back.

“I take that as a compliment.”

“You would.” A flash of light caught her attention, and Helen dropped flat on top of a shipping crate and extended her head carefully past the edge. Two men were walking along the rows of crates, carrying flashlights and military-grade rifles. She withdrew her head and waited until they disappeared down a side aisle.

One of the ship’s bulkheads loomed out of the darkness, and Helen had to work her way to the center of the hold to pass it. The bulkhead doors were at the bottom of the hold, but she found a flow control spillway near the top that she could squeeze through. 

“So is it just you that swings both ways, or does Bob bat for the other team as well?”

“I’m actually trying to carry out a covert mission here, don’t know if you noticed.”

“Psh, you’re in a mostly deserted cargo hold. Besides, think how bored you’d be if it weren’t for me.”

Helen shook her head. “Why do you want to know about Bob, anyway, I thought you said you -“

“Winston and I had a bet when we were younger.”

“Who bet which way?”

Evelyn laughed. “Winston thinks Mr. Incredible is as straight-laced and All-American as they come. But then, Winston’s always been a little oblivious.”

“Confident, aren’t you?”

“But am I wrong?”

“No,” Helen admitted. “We both like to go our own way from time to time.”

A loud clicking noise echoed over her comm, and Helen froze.

“He’s here,” Evelyn breathed. “Up on the deck. A bunch of people just came out of the bridge tower.”

Helen slid off the top of the shipping container she was crouched on and stretched down to the floor. “Well, at least we know we came to the right place. Although what Incinerator’s doing out here on a boat is anybody’s guess.”

There was silence on the line for a moment, and then Evelyn finally answered. “Sorry, other line. Finally got ahold of Mr. Incredible - he’s on his way to the docks. In the meantime, can you get inside any of those shipping containers?”

Several of the containers were oriented with their doors facing the aisle she was in, but when Helen examined them, they were all padlocked.

“Can’t do it without letting them know somebody’s been here.”

“Voyd can.”

“No. We agreed, only for emergencies -“

Evelyn cut her off. “I qualify this as an emergency. You’re in there with god knows what in those crates and we have to find out what, because I doubt it’s anything good for any of us. Besides,” she added, “do you really want to have to come back and do this all over again in a couple of days when she’s feeling better?”

Throwing up her hands, Helen gave in. “Fine.”

“I’m switching back over to an open line with everybody,” Evelyn said.

“Helen?” Bob’s voice came through the earpiece. “Sorry, the NSA is a madhouse right now.”

Helen started to answer, but she was distracted when she realized that the background clicking from her comm was fading again. “Evelyn, what’s going on?”

“Hard to say. I can’t get a good look ... Voyd, move around to the other side of that warehouse ... right ... right some more ... stop. Ok ... I think he’s leaving actually. Yep, there goes the group down the dock to some vans. Damn it.” Evelyn thumped her fist on the counter.

“I can follow him,” Bob interjected. “I’m still a few blocks away - tell me which direction they go when they leave. If he senses me, he won’t know where I picked up his trail from, and I’ll definitely be able to outrun them, and if he doesn’t, maybe we can figure out what he’s up to.”

“As soon as they’re gone, Voyd, get out to the ship and you two find out what’s in those shipping crates.”

“Will do,” Karen said.

Helen listened with half an ear while Evelyn coordinated the van pursuit with Bob. She scouted through the cargo hold until she found a secluded corner blocked off by shipping crates.

“Karen, are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah, no problem. I’m coming over.”

Karen’s blue gateway materialized in the empty space between shipping containers, and Helen had to jump back as Voyd came through a little too quickly and tripped over the edge of the portal. She nearly pitched headlong into the side of a shipping container before Helen caught her by the arm and steadied her.

“Like I said, that happens a lot.” Karen took a deep breath and opened a portal in the side of the nearest container. Helen leaned in and studied the contents of the crate. 

“Looks like ... bags of fertilizer.”

She could hear the frown in Evelyn’s voice. “Keep checking.”

They went through six crates, cataloguing even more fertilizer and some other odds and ends. As they worked, Helen slowly became conscious of Karen sniffing.

“Karen, honey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Karen quickly swiped at her nose with her glove. “Just allergies acting up.”

Evelyn’s voice came sharply over the line. “You don’t have allergies. It was in the medical release form we made you sign when you started working with DevTech.”

Karen ignored Evelyn as she threw out her hands to make another portal, so Helen snagged her wrist. There was blood on Karen’s glove, and when Helen looked closly in the semi-darkness, she could see traces under her nose as well. Karen started talking quickly before she could say anything. 

“Look, I just get nosebleeds if I use my powers to much. It’s not a big deal.”

Helen bit her lip. “We should go back.”

“No!” Karen insisted. “I can do this.” She moved carefully toward the center aisle and opened another container. Helen was about to continue the argument when something large and metallic in the crate caught her eye.

“Uh, Evelyn, are you getting a good look at this?”

A low whistle came over the line. “Those are some high end drones.”

All three of them studied the contents of the crate with some alarm. The drones were large, with bulky bodies and arms, and Helen thought they looked vaguely like Syndrome’s Omnidroid, though with wheels instead of spider-like legs. 

“Well,” Evelyn said finally, “whatever they need those drones for probably isn’t good news for the city, or for us.”

Karen swayed slightly next to her, and Helen realized they were running on borrowed time. She glanced at the container again. “Evelyn, anything else you need to see here? If not, we’re leaving.”

“We got what we came for. Get out of there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of plot, little bit of character chat ... it’s a give and take, just like Helen & Evelyn. Anyway, hope y’all enjoy.
> 
> Also, a PSA - you may have noticed the rating change to this story, and if you didn’t, well, it’s rated E, Not For Everyone. However, I will be tagging the explicit sections, so you’ll be able to skip those if you so desire. Obviously there wasn’t anything in this chapter, but I just wanted to give you all a heads up going forward. I will try to put notes at the beginning of a chapter as well so nobody’s caught off guard.


	18. I HOLD OUT FOR ONE MORE DRINK

By the time Helen and Karen made it back to Edna’s, Evelyn had brought her raging headache under control with copious amounts of water and ibuprofen. She was feeling slightly waterlogged, but she no longer want to put her head through a brick wall, so she counted it as a win. The uncomfortable churning in her stomach had eventually reminded her that she hadn’t actually eaten anything except a few bites of omelet in the last day.

She was sitting cross-legged on the lab counter with a bowl of popcorn when she heard the upstairs doors slam. Karen wandered down almost immediately and perched on the counter next to Evelyn. She offered the popcorn bowl, and they both munched in silence. 

“How’s your head?” Evelyn finally asked.

“Fuzzy. How’s yours?”

“Same.”

They both reached for the popcorn again. Evelyn watched out of the corner of her eye and couldn’t help snickering when Karen tried to toss a piece of popcorn and catch it in her mouth, only to miss completely. Giving Evelyn a sideways glance, Karen threw another piece straight out in front of her and used a tiny portal to drop it into her mouth. 

“Well played.” 

Karen’s mouth curled up in a tentative smile. “Stupid little things like that don’t hurt nearly as much when I’ve overdone it. And it helps to practice.”

“I used to always keep something in my pocket, remote control, whatever, anything I could dismantle and mess with.” Evelyn stared into a middle distance, not really seeing the lab in front of her. “It occurs to me I should ... clear the air.” She saw Karen’s head turn toward her in her peripheral vision, but Evelyn refused to look.

“It’s cool,” Karen said eventually. “No harm, no foul, right?”

Evelyn felt her eyebrows shoot up before she could control her expression. “That’s ... remarkably lenient of you.”

“Before I came to DevTech -“ Karen twisted her hands together. “Let’s just say my parents had some problems with me. If it hadn’t been for you guys, I’d still be living on a street corner. Never would have met Elastigirl and her family. So let’s just call it even.”

Karen tossed another piece of popcorn, but this time she aimed the portal at Evelyn. The popcorn bounced off her cheek before she had time to react. 

“Oh, I see how it is,” Evelyn said. “I feed you my popcorn and you attack me.” She could see Karen grinning.

They were still working on the bowl a few minutes later when Helen came into the lab, toweling her hair dry and looking much happier after a hot shower to drive out the remaining chill in her bones. She raised an eyebrow in Evelyn’s direction.

“Please tell me that’s not your dinner.”

Evelyn considered the bowl in her lap. “Ok.”

Helen closed her eyes briefly. “Are you lying?”

“Yep.” Evelyn shared a conspiratorial look with Karen. “Oh, by the way,” she turned back to Helen, “Bob called in just before you two got back. Incinerator didn’t get very far - he’s holed up in an apartment about a mile from the waterfront. Anyway, Bob said he hadn’t been spotted and he wanted to wait them out, see if they go anywhere else.”

“He’s not happy unless he’s right in the thick of it.” Helen smiled crookedly. “That’s what I get for marrying Mr. Incredible.”

“Have you recovered from your little dip earlier?” Evelyn asked. “I’m surprised Edna didn’t build some sort of heater system into that suit.”

“Well, it is Southern California,” Helen pointed out. “That’s the whole reason I came here for school - the NSA wanted me to go to New York, something about keeping the Supers spread out, but I would have been pretty useless six months out of the year. Anyway, it’s never come up until now. There are a lot of other Supers better suited to water work.”

Evelyn shrugged. “Makes sense, I suppose.”

The bowl was still in her lap, and she jumped slightly as Helen’s hand stretched out to steal some of the popcorn. Helen popped a piece in her mouth and winced.

“Wow, would you like some popcorn with this butter?”

Karen and Evelyn both started laughing. “This is the only way to eat popcorn!” Karen insisted. 

“Sure, if you’re trying to induce a heart attack.” Helen pulled up a chair next to them and perched on it, tucking her legs up and resting her chin on her knees. “So now we have to figure out what Incinerator’s planning to target, because those drones definitely look they’re here to attack something.”

“All of it’s there for an attack of some sort,” Evelyn pointed out. “That fertilizer has ANFO in it - popular choice of low-rent bombers the world over.”

“How would bombing the city help him with his Super supremacy push? I mean, people already hate him - that would just make it worse.”

A discouraged silence fell over the group as they considered the new possibilities. Evelyn turned the drones and the potential bombs over in her head, looking for some connection to Incinerator’s plans, to what they already knew about him. There was something nagging at the back of her mind, but she couldn’t quite pull it to her conscious thoughts. She glanced at the other two. Karen’s brow was furrowed in concentration, and she idly kicked at the chair in front of her. 

Helen had her head down, staring at the floor, and Evelyn took the opportunity to study her unobserved. Her hair was still slightly damp, making the auburn tint more prominent, and it reminded Evelyn of all the photos of a younger Elastigirl she’d poured over in the process of designing the bike. Some of the residual tension Helen had been carrying since she first showed up at Evelyn’s house seemed to have faded despite the new discoveries.

Perhaps sensing she was being watched, Helen looked up, and Evelyn found herself pinned by the other woman’s gaze. There was something else different about Helen that snagged at Evelyn’s attention, and when she finally figured out what it was, she couldn’t stop a small smile. Helen cocked her head slightly, wordlessly asking what Evelyn found amusing. Evelyn just shook her own head in return.

A loud crack made Evelyn jump as Karen accidentally kicked too hard and sent the chair flying. She stuttered out an apology as she jumped down to retrieve the chair and knocked the popcorn bowl off the counter as well. 

“Karen, honey, why don’t you just have a seat and I’ll get that.” Helen sounded like she was trying very hard not to laugh, and Evelyn had to turn away before the sight of Karen’s crestfallen expression set her off as well. 

“Sure, I’ll just ...” Karen let her sentence trail off as she gave a jaw-cracking yawn. Helen pointed toward the door.

“On second thought, why don’t you get some rest? I know we all managed to sleep in today,” a light blush stained Helen’s cheeks, “but you used your powers a lot tonight, and you still haven’t fully recovered.”

Karen nodded slowly. “You’re probably right. I kind of feel like I’m swimming in tar.”

“Sleep well, and we’ll see you in the morning.” Helen watched her leave with a fond smile, and Evelyn lifted her hand briefly in acknowledgement when Karen waved to them both from the door before disappearing up the stairs. 

Evelyn busied herself picking up the stray popcorn pieces. She had a feeling Edna would be tracking her down, possibly with a large kitchen knife, if she came back to find popcorn all over her lab, or worse, ants. She was conscious of Helen as the other woman moved to stand next to her, but she waited, strangely reluctant to break the silence. She felt tight, almost uncomfortable in her skin, but conversely, it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. 

From the first moment she’d met the Supers at DevTech, Evelyn had been drawn to Elastigirl. She’d written it off after the initial sales pitch - passing interest in attractive women was nothing new or noteworthy for her. But Elastigirl - Helen - had grabbed her attention and held it in a way that most women didn’t. Despite her ultimate plans for the Supers, Evelyn couldn’t resist lightly testing the boundaries, pushing Helen just that little bit to see how she would react, and idly contemplating what she’d do if life was just a little bit different. Still, she wasn’t fool enough to actually come on to the wife of a man who could literally kill her without a second thought, personal feelings about Supers aside.

_Now, though ..._

“You missed a piece,” Helen said at last. Her arm stretched past Evelyn to grab a popcorn piece that had bounced under one of the tables. 

“Thanks.” Evelyn set the bowl down. “I’ve done enough damage down here. Figured I don’t need to make it worse.”

“Technically, that was Karen.”

Laughing, Evelyn resumed her seat on the counter. “I’m pretty sure nobody could deliberately throw Karen under the bus like that. Talk about kicking a puppy.”

“True.” Helen’s gaze roamed the lab, focusing on nothing in particular. “Are you planning to work for a while or head straight to bed?”

“Not planning to sleep at all, really. I’ve got more work to do on the dangersense screening - I lost a lot of time the other evening - and somebody needs to be available in case Incinerator goes on the move again and Bob calls in.”

Helen nodded. “Well, then, I’ll keep you company for a bit.”

#

She found herself watching Evelyn’s hands. As soon as Helen had declared her intention to stay in the lab for a while, Evelyn had scooped up one of her gadgets and set to work on it. She was disassembling the internal wiring with the speed and ease of utter confidence in her own abilities, and Helen couldn’t help but be fascinated. She was decent with technology herself - any pilot gained a certain level of proficiency - but Evelyn’s knack for all things mechanical and electrical was uncanny. 

“You took your contacts out.” Evelyn’s voice was quiet, and she didn’t look up at Helen as she spoke.

“What?”

“You’ve been wearing contacts since we got here. But you don’t need glasses.” Evelyn shrugged. “I’m guessing there’s a film or overlay on them, something to do with disrupting hypnosis patterns.”

Helen considered trying to deny it for a brief moment. “Yeah. Edna made them for me.”

“Don’t blame you in the slightest.” Evelyn looked up long enough to give her a tight smile before returning her attention to the wiring in her lap. “I told you many times, you were too trusting by half. Good to see I wasn’t just talking to myself.”

Taking a deep breath, Helen contemplated how much she wanted to reveal. “Still, like you said. They’re gone now.”

Evelyn’s cool grey eyes flickered up again, this time locking on to Helen’s with an intensity that made her heart skip a beat. She waited, but Evelyn merely studied her. Helen wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but after a moment Evelyn’s features relaxed before morphing into an expression that was equal parts playful and predatory.

Helen felt the same sense of vertigo she occasionally experienced when she launched herself too high too quickly. Evelyn’s mercurial moods had surprised her before, and they’d had a few late-night conversations at DevTech that had felt like an elaborate form of foreplay, but now she had an inkling she would end up entirely on the back foot if she didn’t seize some initiative.

“You know, if we’re playing games, I think you’re several questions up on me at this point.”

Evelyn’s pained wince was so pronounced it was almost comical. “As much as I’d dearly like to maintain my image as a hard-drinking badass, my liver will revolt if I put any more alcohol through it right now.”

“Call me crazy, but I’ve heard people can have entire conversations without resorting to inebriation.”

“Let’s not do anything rash, here.” Evelyn grinned. “Find me some coffee, at least.”

Rolling her eyes, Helen stood up. “What did your last slave die of?” She made her way to the coffee pot and poured two mugs, but when Evelyn looked at her expectantly, she merely raised an eyebrow and retreated to the couch along the lab’s back wall. 

“Oh really, this is how it’s going to be?”

“Hey, there’s a perfectly good counter over here you can sit on if you insist on being uncomfortable. I was the one doing all the swimming and climbing - I’m tired.”

“Fair.” Evelyn gathered up her tools, carried them over, and plopped down on the floor in front of the couch. 

“Do you have something against chairs? Bad experience when you were young?” Helen teased.

Evelyn gave a longsuffering sigh. “If you must know ... I was bitten by a rabid chair when I was five, and I’ve never quite recovered.”

Stifling a snort of laughter, Helen shook her head.

“So, how does this open season business work for you, exactly?” Evelyn’s tone was overly casual, but Helen caught the tension in her hands as she fiddled with her tools. “You two go hunting for somebody together, or ...”

“We have.” Helen sipped her coffee and considered her words carefully. “We’ve done a lot of that, actually. But we’ve each had our own flings as well. The only hard and fast rule is that both of us know about and approve each other’s partners. Either of us can veto.”

Evelyn set down the piece she was working on and drew her knees up to her chest. “I wondered, you know, when you were at DevTech.”

It was a statement, but Helen could read the question behind it easily enough. She marshaled her thoughts, not wanting to misstep.

“I was already feeling pretty far from home, having to leave Bob and the kids. And I knew how badly Bob wanted to be in my shoes. I couldn’t have done what I did without knowing that he was standing behind me, supporting me, and taking care of the family when I couldn’t. And afte all that ...” Helen leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I already felt like I was cheating on Bob by doing hero work. Anything else would have pushed me over the edge, even if he’d said it was ok.” She met Evelyn’s eyes. “Even if I wanted to.”

She was suddenly hyper aware of how close they’d gotten. Evelyn’s face was less than a foot away, a lazy half smile spreading across it as she took in Helen’s last comment. Her eyes glittered with suppressed amusement, but Helen could read the other, darker ... hungrier emotions there as well. 

“And now?” Evelyn’s voice was low and raspy, and it hit Helen on a visceral level, a queerly pleasurable punch to the gut that left her fighting to maintain a relaxed air. She leaned even closer, giving Evelyn plenty of time to back away, before gently pressing her lips to the corner of Evelyn’s mouth.

“Now,” she breathed against warm skin, “I think I’d like to fuck you.”

Helen felt as much as heard Evelyn’s sharp intake of air, followed by a warm breath against her cheek that sent bolts of lightning down her spine as Evelyn laughed. “Well, well, Elastigirl, I’m impressed.” She turned her head slightly and caught Helen’s lower lip between her teeth. The sharp sting as she bit down made Helen jerk forward, hand clenching reflexively on nothing as she breathed through the sudden heat flooding her veins.

Evelyn released her lip and leaned back just enough to look Helen in the eye. “I’m not about to start hugging it out with superheroes. Or even start being nice to them.”

Helen licked her lips, watching the way Evelyn’s eyes moved involuntarily to follow the motion, how her nostrils flared and her breathing shortened.

“Wouldn’t have you any other way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, y’all! I’m putting the note at the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next one, so please read and heed! If you would like to skip the explicit content, DO NOT read Chapter 19. You will not be missing any plot points. Obviously there’s some character insight for both Helen and Evelyn, but it’s not anything you can’t pick up on elsewhere. If you’ve been patiently waiting for the smut, knock yourselves out! Enjoy :)


	19. I WANNA MAKE YOU MOVE BECAUSE YOU’RE STANDING STILL

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE NOTE: If you would like to skip the explicit content, DO NOT read this chapter. There are no plot points here.

Evelyn hesitated a final heartbeat, teetering on the edge of the cliff and savoring the feeling of the adrenaline crawling through her body. Without warning, Helen’s hands gripped the collar of her shirt and tugged sharply upward. Evelyn followed the motion easily, rolling forward onto her knees and straightening up to bring their heads level.

The second kiss was nowhere near as restrained as the first. Evelyn started it lightly enough, but as soon as she ran her tongue along the seam of Helen’s lips, she felt another sharp jerk on her shirt, and then Helen was hauling her up and back onto the couch. She went willingly, but midway through the motion Helen twisted them around, and suddenly Evelyn found herself on her back, trapped under Helen’s weight. It knocked the air out of her for a moment, but she took it all back in a shuddering breath as she felt Helen’s thighs bracketing her hips on either side and the warmth of their bodies pressing together. Helen braced herself with one hand against the arm of the couch above Evelyn’s head and slipped the other under Evelyn’s shoulder. She trembled head to toe when she felt Helen’s fingers threading through her hair and tugging her head back. The tiny sparks of pain collided sharply against the arousal churning in her stomach, and she was suddenly, shockingly tightly wound.

Helen’s eyes were dark, pupils blown wide enough to nearly eclipse the lighter brown, and Evelyn felt another frisson go through her as she took in the sight. She dragged in a strained breath as Helen tipped her head even further back and lowered her mouth to Evelyn’s neck. When she felt the slow glide of Helen’s tongue, followed by teeth sinking into the skin, she bucked her hips nearly hard enough to unseat the other woman. She could feel Helen’s lips curve into a smile against her skin, and Evelyn growled in frustration.

She gripped Helen’s hips and pushed them down, bending her knee at the same time, and Helen groaned against her throat as Evelyn’s thigh pressed against her core. Evelyn had to bite back her own whine as Helen ground down against her leg. 

“Fuck, fuck,” Helen whispered, and Evelyn felt a sudden wetness between her legs listening to Helen swear. She latched onto Evelyn’s throat again, and Evelyn couldn’t bring herself to be too bothered by the breathy noises Helen was starting to draw from her when she managed to get both hands on Helen’s ass. Using her grip to encourage Helen to move her hips, Evelyn shifted her leg even higher and set up a long, slow rhythm. Helen gave up on her attempts to mark Evelyn’s neck and dropped her forehead into the crook of her shoulder instead.

“Oh my god.” Her back and shoulder muscles were quivering, and Evelyn smirked and tightened her grip. Helen gave a choked laugh. “Ass girl, huh?”

“Come on, you know what you look like in those suits.” Evelyn punctuated her words with another firm press of her thigh, causing Helen to cry out. The heat from Helen’s core was scorching, and Evelyn desperately wanted to push her back and explore that heat in intimate detail, but she was pretty sure if she let up at all, Helen would get control back, and Evelyn was enjoying their unspoken game of one-upsmanship.

Helen shifted, leaning her weight on the arm that was still under Evelyn’s shoulder, and then she felt shaky fingers at the buttons on her shirt. 

“Getting impatient?” Evelyn tried for amused, but her voice cracked as Helen’s fingers brushed against her collar bone. Helen didn’t bother to answer, but she attacked the buttons with surprising coordination, even as she ground her hips harder against Evelyn. She lifted slightly to get at the last two buttons, and Evelyn shivered as the cold lab air kissed her skin where the shirt gaped open.

“Sorry.” Helen pursed her lips and blew gently against Evelyn’s throat, belying her apology and drawing another round of shivers. The slow roll of her leg against Helen faltered, and before she could recover, Helen’s fingers were trailing along the underside of her bra, stroking the line between fabric and skin. The fingers still buried in her hair scratched lightly against her head, sending pleasure crawling down her spine, and Evelyn melted. 

Helen placed her index finger at the base of Evelyn’s throat and ran it straight down her chest until she was tugging at the point where Evelyn’s bra cups connected, pulling the fabric against Evelyn’s already sensitive breasts and making her gasp.

“How attached are you to this?” 

“Right now?” Evelyn panted. “Scale of ... one to ten ... negative five ...”

Head tipped back in a laugh, Helen slipped her finger under the fabric and gave it a sharp tug. The bra parted neatly in the middle, and heat surged between Evelyn’s legs when she saw Helen’s gaze drop immediately to her chest. She tried to subtly twist her legs together, just to ease some of the pressure, but Helen felt the movement and clamped her own thighs tighter, pinning Evelyn to the couch and not allowing her to move. 

Evelyn considerd swearing at her, or maybe begging her, but either one of those things felt like losing, and while she was considering whether or not her pride would let her, Helen cupped her hand around Evelyn’s breast and flicked her thumb over the nipple, sending an almost painful thread of arousal through her. She couldn’t stop her low moan, any more than she could stop herself pushing her chest against Helen’s hand, silently asking for something more. And Helen was happy to give it to her, bringing her index finger into play as well, lightly pinching and twisting until Evelyn was sure she was going to lose her mind.

Every tug and small pain sent a jolt straight to her cunt, and she fought fruitlessly against Helen’s grip on her legs. She lifted her hands from Helen’s ass and slipped them up under her shirt to dig her nails into smooth skin. Helen hissed and nipped her ear lightly in retaliation. 

“Bit rough, aren’t you? We’ll come back to that later,” Helen breathed, and Evelyn managed to pull herself together enough to arch an eyebrow.

“You seem confident this isn’t a one-time deal.”

Helen’s mouth curved up, eyes sparkling with a mischievous light Evelyn recognized, and she had a sinking feeling she’d once again made a tactical error.

“You tell me,” Helen said. She bent her head, and Evelyn had only a half second or so of realization before a warm, wet mouth closed over her neglected breast. 

She’d been around Helen enough, both at DevTech and here at Edna’s, to realize that, while she wasn’t showy with her powers, she had also integrated them pretty deeply into daily life. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise when Evelyn felt an unnaturally flexible tongue wrap around her nipple and pull, but the overwhelming sensation and the vivid reminder of exactly who she was tangled up with made Evelyn throw their subtle competition to the wind.

“Oh my god.” She freed one hand from Helen’s shirt to grip the back of her head and hold her closer. “ _Oh my god,_ don’t stop!”

Helen’s chuckle vibrated against her chest. Evelyn’s grumble of protest turned into a drawn-out groan when she felt teeth scraping lightly over her nipple, before the tongue returned to soothe the sting. She twisted harder against Helen, feeling like she might spontaneously combust if she didn’t get some sort of relief from the incredible pressure she could feel building up between her legs.

Sensing her impatience, Helen flattened her hand and ran it down Evelyn’s body, making her stomach muscles jump in tense anticipation. When she felt fingers toying with the button on her slacks, she nearly threw Helen off again with another sharp buck of her hips. 

“Would you _stop_ with the teasing?”

“Hmm, you sure about that?” Helen’s voice was low and pleasantly strained. “I think you like the teasing. Or is that only when you’re the one doing it?” She tugged the zipper on Evelyn’s trousers down and dipped her fingers inside the waistband of her underwear. Evelyn tried to lift her hips in a not-so-subtle hint, but Helen just winked at her. “I’ve got you.”

Evelyn panted unevenly through her teeth as Helen slid her hand further down. She was aching, the need for some sort of relief almost painful. The tips of Helen’s fingers brushed against Evelyn’s clit, and she lost control of her mouth.

“Fuck, Helen, stop _fucking_ teasing me, just fuck me!”

“Easy.” Helen curled her fingers, pressing down, and Evelyn thrashed in her grip as a bolt of pleasure shot through her. “I am going to fuck you. But we’ll do it my way.”

Helen glanced down, and when her hand moved again, Evelyn realized she must be stretching to make the angle work ... and then she forgot all about powers and angles when Helen’s fingers trailed through the wetness between her thighs. They both groaned at the realization of just how soaked Evelyn was. Helen dipped her middle finger just barely into Evelyn’s slit, and she nearly sobbed with frustration when it was withdrawn, but then Helen was drawing tight circles around her clit with damp fingers and Evelyn felt like crying from relief. 

“Hold on as hard as you want,” Helen murmured in her ear, and then she stretched her hand again and lowered her head back to Evelyn’s breast, and Evelyn was flying.

Between the clothing and the position of their bodies on the narrow couch, it was an angle that would have been difficult for anyone else, but Helen made it work - her thumb pressed into Evelyn’s clit, while her middle and ring fingers stretched to slid deeply into Evelyn with agonizing slowness. Evelyn fought to grind her hips, to move, to do anything, but Helen’s thighs were still wrapped firmly around hers, pinning her down and ultimately forcing her to lie still and simply take every slow, hard stroke of Helen’s fingers. 

Those fingers curled in with amazing precision, and Evelyn let out a broken moan every time they dragged across her inner walls. Helen had resumed her careful attention to Evelyn’s breast, and every time the stroke of her fingers coincided with a bite or tug at her nipple, Evelyn cried out. Her skin felt too hot, and she wanted to pull away from Helen’s exquisite torture and get closer all at once. 

Helen seemed to sense exactly the point at which it all became too much, because just as Evelyn was seriously considering screaming, Helen’s slow thrusts suddenly sped up, and she rocked her whole body, using her hips to put extra force into each stroke. Evelyn grabbed desperately at Helen’s shoulders, struggling to keep her head above the wave of pleasure threatening to overtake her, but Helen gave a particularly firm thrust, wrapped her tongue around Evelyn’s nipple again, and tugged her head back, and suddenly she was falling over the edge, entire body seizing up, struggling to breathe through her orgasm as she dug her fingers into Helen’s back. 

She didn’t know how long she hung suspended in the throes of her orgasm, but when she could finally focus over the pounding in her ears, Evelyn realized Helen was talking quietly, meaningless phrases meant to soothe more than anything. Evelyn melted bonelessly into the couch, feeling like she imagined Helen might after stretching too far, a deep-seated ache in her body that was so, so good. Her heart was racing, and she took a moment to be glad she hadn’t over-indulged on either alcohol or caffeine, because that might have just killed her. 

Evelyn realized she still had one hand wrapped in Helen’s hair, and she used her hold to tug the other woman up for a kiss. Helen’s mouth was pliable against hers, all softness and no teeth now, and Evelyn lazily tangled their tongues together, huffing out a small laugh when Helen twisted hers that little bit beyond normal. They pulled back eventually to breath, foreheads together, sharing space.

Helen loosened her legs around Evelyn’s thighs and twitched her fingers, still buried inside Evelyn. She whined as the aftershocks moved through her. “Ready?” Helen whispered apologetically against her lips. Evelyn gritted her teeth as Helen slipped her fingers out, jackknifing slightly as they brushed against her clit.

“Sorry.”

“You have absolutely nothing to apologize for. Except maybe to yourself, because it may take me a bit to become functional again.” Evelyn rolled her head to the side and sighed in relief as her neck cracked. Helen smiled crookedly.

“Take your time, I’m fine.”

“Liar.” Now that Helen wasn’t concentrating on holding Evelyn down, her legs had acquired a tell-tale tremble, and Evelyn could see the residual tension in her eyes. “Sit up.”

Helen moved carefully, adjusting her knees on either side of Evelyn. She didn’t trust her body not to give out on her if she tried to get up, but Evelyn grasped the hem of Helen’s red turtleneck and tugged it swiftly upward, getting it to her shoulders before Helen took over and removed it. Evelyn leaned back against the arm of the couch and let her eyes trail up Helen’s body. “Bra too.”

Unclipping her bra and tossing it aside, Helen raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly as Evelyn reached out to run her hands across Helen’s stomach. “Bossy all of a sudden, aren’t you?”

“You like it,” Evelyn replied. 

“So do you, apparently.” Helen lifted her hand, and Evelyn strangled the groan that wanted to escape when she saw how wet Helen’s fingers were. She didn’t bother to stifle her sounds when Helen sucked her fingers clean before leaning down to bite at her lip again. Evelyn wrapped her arms around Helen’s waist and pulled them flush, sighing in approval as their breasts brushed together. She wanted to take the time to properly explore Helen’s body, but Evelyn knew her own limits. She was still trying to shake off the late night and binge drinking, and after the orgasm Helen had just given her, she estimated she was about ten minutes from completely losing conciousness, if the current pleasantly leaden feeling in her limbs was any indication. 

Resuming her earlier grip on Helen’s ass with one hand, she tapped her thigh with the other, and after a little bit of wrangling, managed to get one leg between Helen’s and the other braced against the outside of her hip. She kneaded Helen’s ass and rolled her thigh, encouraging Helen to grind against her. 

“I swear I’ll do better next time, but you really did a number on me.”

“See, now you want a ... next time.” Helen’s breath hitched as Evelyn moved her thigh more firmly. She dropped her head back down to Evelyn’s shoulder. “I wanted to ... watch you ... was really hot.”

Evelyn snorted. “Glad you enjoyed yourself. Now let’s see if we can’t make it a little better for you.”

She couldn’t replicate Helen’s trick of stretching her arm, but Evelyn did pop the button on Helen’s slacks and slide her hand inside. Her fingers rested against Helen’s clit, rolling with every thrust and causing Helen to pant against her neck. Evelyn spoke softly into her ear.

“The first time I saw you on that bike, I remembered exactly how gay I am. I wanted to bend you over my desk and fuck you, find out exactly how it felt to have my fingers inside you.” Helen shuddered against her, hips moving restlessly, chasing her orgasm. Evelyn kept talking. “The night we had the reception for the new Supers, you were just drunk enough to be flirty, sitting on that couch - even when I was plotting, I was thinking about laying you back and burying my face in your cunt, how you would taste, what sounds you would make.”

Helen twitched, breath coming out in a constant low whine. “Keep talking, I’m close, just -“

Evelyn flexed her hand, pinching and lightly rolling Helen’s clit between two fingers. “Most of all, since we got here, even when I was angry with you - I’ve wanted to pin you to the wall and make you come.”

With a choked cry, Helen stiffened up in her arms. Evelyn kept her fingers firmly pressed against Helen, helping her ride out her orgasm, stroking up and down her back with the other hand. She couldn’t see Helen’s face, but she could feel the harsh breaths against her collar bone and the strong fingers that dug into her arms. She could hear the way Helen’s voice hitched in tiny whimpers as she came. If she hadn’t been so worn out, Evelyn thought she might have been able to come again from feeling Helen come undone in her arms, but as it was, she barely managed to withdraw her hand and wrap her arms around Helen as her breathing finally evened out.

Evelyn had the vague idea she’d meant to stay awake for something, but she was damned if should could make her mind focus on it. Helen’s relaxed weight on top of her was better than any blanket, and she was rapidly losing the fight with her eyes. She had just enough energy left to tap Helen’s back.

“Y’should keep me company in the lab more often.”

Helen’s exhausted laughter chased her into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, hope y’all enjoyed :) The turtles swimming in honey have finally arrived!


	20. IS THAT A SHOVEL IN YOUR POCKET OR ... NOPE, IT’S A SHOVEL

As Evelyn gradually returned to conciousness, she became aware of a few pertinent facts - that she was still lying on the sofa in the lab, that she was wrapped in a blanket, that she felt remarkably rested. Her mouth was dry, and she tried to swallow before realizing she’d somehow ended up with a shock of auburn hair in her face. She rolled her eyes downward and saw the top of Helen’s head resting against her chest. Her right arm felt dead, and she was mostly trapped under Helen’s weight, but overall she decided it was a reasonably comfortable way to wake up.

At least until she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and realized Bob Parr was seated at the table opposite them.

Evelyn stiffened up immediately. She wasn’t entirely sure if she was preparing to launch herself off the couch or bracing for a beating, but before she could move, Bob held up a hand.

“Relax,” he said quietly. “You’ll wake her up, and she probably needs the rest.”

Consciously loosening her limbs, Evelyn took a few deep breaths to try to calm the flood of adrenaline running through her. She remained on high alert as she stared at Bob. He caught her expression and grinned.

“What, you think I’m going to beat you up or something?”

“Well,” Evelyn whispered. She gestured with the hand that wasn’t trapped under Helen.

“She told you our deal, right?”

“Yeah. I just ... I don’t know, I guess knowing is one thing and seeing is another, and ... yeah.”

Bob chuckled. “I knew what I was getting into when I married her. She is Elastigirl, after all. The flexibility thing - it’s very appropriate. Besides, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find it hot when she picks up women.”

The casual, friendly tone caught her off guard, and Evelyn tried to stifle her own laugh. She glanced quickly down again, but Helen was still dead to the world. “I’d have thought she’d be a light sleeper.”

“Normally she is. You must have worn her out. Good job. Neither one of you even budged when I came in.”

A lot of weird things had happened to Evelyn in the last couple of months, but she thought trading comments with Bob Parr about fucking his wife was probably near the top of the list. She was suddenly conscious of the fact that her shirt was still pushed half off her shoulders and Helen was topless, although she supposed that wasn’t anything Bob hadn’t seen plenty of. She twitched the edge of the blanket covering them.

“Was that you?”

“Yeah, I didn’t want Karen to come down here and accidentally get scarred for life,” Bob said. “Also thought it might be a bit uncomfortable for you with me around.”

Evelyn tilted her head in agreement. “Might have been a little weird, yeah. Not that this isn’t, but I appreciate the thought.”

“No problem.” Bob locked eyes with her, and the sudden intensity in his expression made the hairs on Evelyn’s arms stand up. “By the way, I feel it’s only fair to warn you, if you fuck up again and hurt Helen, you won’t have to worry about going back to prison.”

“Shovel talk time, huh?” Evelyn swallowed hard, trying to force down the sudden tightness in the back of her throat. “Well, I can’t say that I blame you ... I’d probably threaten me too.”

Bob leaned forward and rapped his fingers absently on the table. “Here’s the thing. I don’t _have_ to threaten you, because Helen is perfectly capable of taking care of her own problems. I’m going to do it anyway, though, because I’m here to make sure she doesn’t have to. If you move on, or she does, if you get bored, if you decide it was a bad idea? Fine. If you betray her again? I’ll rip your spine out.”

“That’s fair.” Evelyn kept her gaze level, trying to communicate her sincerity. “I still don’t like what you represent, the way your powers make people rely on you. But I shouldn’t have done what I did.”

Bob studied her face carefully. She didn’t know what he was looking for, but whatever it was, he evidently found it. His massive shoulders relaxed fractionally, and he gave her a surprisingly boyish grin. 

“Good. Just so long as we’re on the same page.”

“How long have you been here, anyway?”

He shrugged. “Couple hours, maybe. I called in before I came back, but nobody answered ... clearly you were otherwise occupied.” His grin widened on the last two words, and Evelyn looked around for something convenient to throw before remembering that it probably wasn’t the best idea to pick a fight with Mr. Incredible. 

Looking as if he had a pretty good idea what was going through her mind and it amused him greatly, Bob stretched and got up from the table. “Wake Helen up and come upstairs. We can talk over last night’s reconnaissance while we eat, and plan our next steps.”

Evelyn gave him a thumbs up. As Bob left the lab, she ran her free hand gently down Helen’s back, trailing her fingers along the smooth curve of her spine and letting her nails scrape lightly. Helen shifted, nuzzling into Evelyn, and she hissed as Helen’s soft sigh sent a puff of air against her chest. 

“G’mornin to you too.” Helen was only half awake at best, and her southern drawl, normally somewhat subdued, had come to the fore with a vengeance. Evelyn mentally rolled her eyes at herself when the first word that popped into her head was “adorable.”

“Hey. Sleep ok?” Evelyn continued the lazy movement of her fingers against Helen’s back. 

“Probably better than you, if I was on top of you like this all night.” Helen propped herself up, and Evelyn couldn’t help a pained gasp as the blood rushed back into her arm. Catching Helen’s wince, she hurried to reassure her.

“Honestly, no complaints. By all means, feel free to sleep topless and use me as a mattress any time the urge strikes you.” Evelyn thought for a moment. “Actually, one complaint. Next time lose the pants too.”

Helen threw back her head and laughed. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

“God that’s tempting, but unfortunately we’re supposed to be getting up. You may remember your husband, big brute that can crush me like a bug? I’d rather not be threatened again this early in the morning, so I think I’d better get you upstairs like I promised.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake, he was down here?” Helen rubbed at her forehead. “Sorry. That was probably a little awkward for you.”

Evelyn raised her hands in an ambivalent gesture. “It’s hardly the first time I’ve been woken up in a compromising position.”

“Do I get to hear that story, or do I have to pry it out of you with more alcohol?” Helen sat up, letting the blanket fall off her shoulders, and Evelyn struggled to pay attention to the conversation rather than be distracted by the mouthwatering expanse of skin on display in front of her. Judging by Helen’s knowing smirk, she wasn’t entirely successful, but she soldiered on.

“We’ll see. No promises.” Evelyn couldn’t resist settling her hands on Helen’s waist, thumbs pressing into the dips of her hip bones. Helen’s low almost-whine made her smile. “I have to keep some semblance of a mystery.”

Helen reached down and tugged Evelyn’s shirt closed, doing up the buttons with an entirely unnecessary but not unwelcome amount of seemingly accidental brushes of her hands against Evelyn’s stomach and chest. “Sorry about the bra, I think it’s a lost cause right now.”

“It’s fine, I have a sweater down here somewhere.” Before Helen could get up off the couch, Evelyn sat up and tugged her forward, nipping lightly at her lower lip. “Thank you, by the way.”

“Hey, I had a pretty good night myself.”

Evelyn shook her head. “Not for that. Although I certainly intend to thank you thoroughly later. But for ... staying with me the other night. Hearing me out. Taking those contacts out.”

Threading her fingers through Evelyn’s hair, Helen tipped her head back until they were eye to eye. “I know that wasn’t easy for you, even if you were three sheets to the wind. Thanks for being honest.”

“Well, enjoy it while it lasted, because I don’t think my liver can take another night like that,” Evelyn said dryly. Helen chuckled.

“I’m not overly fond of them myself.” She pressed her hips down into Evelyn’s lightly before standing up, making Evelyn whine. “Problem?”

“Nope.” Evelyn gritted her teeth. “Although you probably want to find your shirt now, or we could be here a while.”

#

Bob gave her a knowing smirk when she walked into the kitchen, and Helen was fully prepared to smack him before realizing that Karen was there too, tucking into a full English breakfast and thankfully oblivious to the fact that Helen was still wearing last night’s clothes. Evelyn staggered in behind her, sweater on backwards and hair frazzled. Which, Helen realized, could probably be blamed on her this time. The thought made her smile.

She noticed Bob still watching her and stuck her tongue out ever so slightly at him. His smile got wider, and she couldn’t help grinning back. Evelyn shook her head at both of them and nodded toward Karen before mouthing, “Seriously?”

“Were you in the lab working all night, Evelyn?” Bob asked blandly. 

“Yeah, I had a project. Little tricky, but I’ve always been good with my hands.”

Helen rubbed both hands over her face. “I think I liked it better when you two weren’t getting along.”

She settled in at the table next to Bob, stealing a few pieces of bacon off his plate before he managed to defend it. “So, last night.” Evelyn snorted, and Helen kicked her shin under the table. 

Bob sounded on the verge of laughter when he spoke, but he managed to keep it under wraps. “I got a brief rundown from Evelyn last night, but I missed some of the details ... you found drones?”

“Yeah.” Helen frowned. “They looked an awful lot like Syndrome’s.”

“You don’t think ...”

“... should we call her?”

“Call who?” Karen tried to talk around a mouthful of sausage and choked on it. Evelyn thumped her on the back when she started coughing.

“One thing at a time, Blue. Eat first, then talk.”

When she was satisfied Karen wasn’t going to die, Helen returned to the subject at hand. “We have a friend who used to work with Syndrome. She might know something about who would have been in a position to get ahold of his tech. I don’t know what happened to everything on the island.”

“Normally the NSA should have been in charge of something like that,” Bob said. “But with all the confusion after the attack, and the mess with the agency being shut down and rebooted, we have to assume something may have fallen through the cracks.”

“Does it really matter where he got this stuff?” Evelyn cradled a coffee mug in front of her like a shield. “The important part is what he intends to do with it.”

They all stared at the tabletop in glum silence. Helen reflected that this was exactly where they’d ended up spinning their wheels the night before. It didn’t make any sense ... each of Incinerator’s attacks so far had been very specifically targeted toward his enemies. The ship full of drones and explosives had all the hallmarks of a wide scale attack. It was the sort of thing that would catch a lot of attention and draw in Supers from all over ...

Helen smacked her open palm on the table. “He’s trying to lure us out. All of us. It’s a trap.”

“Makes sense, in an alarming sort of way.” Brow furrowed, Bob stabbed at his eggs with sudden aggression. “You think he wants to kill us or convince us?”

“Convince.” They all looked at Evelyn. “He’s a supremicist, and a Super, but he’s not stupid. Eventually, he needs more people with powers behind him. He can’t do this alone.”

“So,” Helen said slowly, “he lures out Supers with attacks on civilians, and when we turn up to save them, he grabs us.”

“That’s ... not great.” Karen pushed her food around aimlessly with her fork. 

“It can be.” Evelyn smiled slightly. “I’ve got an idea - but you probably aren’t going to like it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey my dudes, so I’m not dead, just had real life kicking my butt for a while there. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the morning after hijinks. Buckle up from here, kids, cause it’s gonna get crazy.


	21. THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS

“Absolutely not.”

Evelyn breathed out slowly through her nose, trying to tamp down on her irritation. “Would you at least let me finish?”

Helen crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s completely out of the question.”

“It’s a surefire way to draw him out.”

“You can’t seriously think I’m going to let you dangle Karen on the end of a fishhook.”

She nearly gave in to her first impulse to snap back at Helen, but Evelyn managed to rein herself in. She knew her idea would bring out Helen’s protective instincts toward Karen, and truthfully, she wasn’t wild about putting anyone in the crosshairs. But they needed to make Incinerator angry, and there was no better gauntlet to throw down in front of him than the Super he’d already tried and failed to kill.

“Look, you want him to turn up? We know who he’s willing to come for personally.”

“I’ve interfered with his plans - I can be the bait.”

Evelyn shook her head. “He knows good and well that we’re after him. If you put yourself out in the open, he’ll suspect a trap. For that matter, he’ll suspect a trap with Karen too, but my bet is he’ll come anyway, because she’s enough of a threat to make it worthwhile.”

Karen was watching them both with an uncertain expression. “I mean, he probably would come after me again-“

“Forget it.” Helen’s lips compressed in a thin line. “You’re still not completely recovered, and we’re not giving Incinerator another shot at you.”

“Don’t you think that’s her call to make?” Evelyn said quietly.

“I think you can do better.” Helen stood up from the table. “Figure out a different plan.”

Evelyn gritted her teeth as she watched Helen leave the room. “That went well.”

Karen got up without a word and disappeared in the opposite direction. Evelyn pushed the heel of her hand into her forehead. “I hate people.”

Bob snorted quietly. She looked up at him in mute appeal.

“You had to know she wasn’t going to go for that.”

“What about you?”

“I hate it.” Bob’s tone was blunt, uncompromising. “She nearly died. I don’t want to stand back and watch it happen again.”

He leaned back in his chair and let out a deep sigh. “But I’ve been here before. It’s always hard for me to watch other people put themselves in danger. Especially the ones I care about. I’ve tried to keep Helen safe before, tried to keep my kids safe. Tried to handle everything by myself. It doesn’t work that way, though.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Helen.” Bob chuckled. “She talked some sense into me. I didn’t have to take on everything alone, because we’re a team. Working together is what lets us win, in the end.”

“Seems to have forgotten that,” Evelyn grumbled.

Bob tapped his fingers on the table, obviously trying to choose his next words with care. “She really misses the kids right now, she’s worried about all of us ... Karen’s the youngest and the most vulnerable, in a way, so, yeah, it’s gonna take a while. And don’t take it personally.”

“Right.” Evelyn contemplated her half eaten breakfast for a moment, but she’d lost her appetite. “Well, I’m going to be in the lab, trying to do better.”

For a moment, Bob looked like he wanted to respond to her parting shot, but in the end, he just watched her leave.

 

#

Helen leaned over the railing, staring at Edna’s massive courtyard fountain without really seeing it, trying to focus on Incinerator and not the memories that were encroaching on her. She didn’t want to be back on the island, not sure if Bob was dead or alive, or watching Violet and Dash about to be crushed by Syndrome’s droid, or standing at Lucius’s bedside listening to the monitors. She didn’t want to watch Jack-Jack falling from the plane, or experience the heart-stopping terror of thinking they were too late to save Karen. Conversely, though, the harder she tried not to dwell on her worries, the more they invaded her thoughts.

Bob’s hand on her shoulder made her start violently, and when he opened his arms, she went without hesitation, burying her face in his chest.

“I’m sick of putting people in danger.” Her voice was muffled against the fabric of his shirt.

“This was a lot easier to do when we were young and unattached, wasn’t it?” Bob wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on the top of her head. “I don’t like it any better than you do.”

“But you still came out here to change my mind, didn’t you?” Helen pulled back far enough to look up at him. “Am I wrong?”

“You’re not wrong that it’s dangerous.”

Helen gave a watery laugh. “But I’m wrong about everything else.”

“When we got back from Syndrome’s island,” Bob started hesitantly, “I tried to keep you out of the fight, remember? I didn’t have it in me to lose you again.”

“And I told you if we worked together, you wouldn’t have to.”

Bob ran a comforting hand across Helen’s back. “She won’t be alone. We’ll be right behind her every step of the way, ready to jump in. Besides, she’s a good Super. I don’t want to do this either - but I’m ready to stop looking over my shoulder. I’m ready to get the kids back home.”

Helen sighed. “I guess I have some apologies to make.”

#

The lab was dead quiet, so despite her focus on her elaborate tracking system, it didn’t take Evelyn long to detect another presence in the room. Her first thought was that Bob had followed her, but the breathing was too light. She clenched her jaw before turning around, but quickly smoothed her expression when she realized her visitor was not, in fact, Helen.

“Hey.” Karen’s voice was flat. “If I’m bothering you, I can go somewhere else.”

“You’re not.” Evelyn looked back at her monitor. “Just ... keeping an eye on things.”

Karen drifted farther into the room, and Evelyn winced when she headed in the direction of the couch, but fortunately she crashed in a chair halfway there. 

“She doesn’t think I’m a very good Super, does she?”

Evelyn froze. She hadn’t been totally sure why Karen had sought her out, but she was absolutely not prepared for any heart-to-heart pep talks. Not for the first time, she wished Winston was there.

“Um.” She fumbled for an appropriate answer. “I don’t think that’s it ...”

“Pretty sure it is.” Karen drew her knees up to her chest. “She doesn’t think I can handle it.”

She really didn’t want to talk about Helen right at that exact moment, but Evelyn couldn’t ignore the dejected posture and tone, either. Reluctantly turning away from her screen, Evelyn hesitated, wracking her brain for the right words. She perched on the chair next to Karen’s.

“Helen can’t handle watching you get barbecued.” It probably wasn’t the most tactful thing to open with. “Not that she thinks you’re going to. It’s just ... look, my brother is a really smart guy, and he’s normally pretty cautious. But sometimes, when he’s away traveling ... all I can see sometimes is him getting shot in a random mugging or robbery. He can take care of himself ... but that’s not really the point.” The honesty made Evelyn intensely uncomfortable, but when she shot another glance at Karen, she was relieved to see that her pep talk seemed to have had an effect. 

“You really think that’s what it is?”

“Bob and Helen care for you, a lot. It’s obvious. They were worried sick until we found you.” Evelyn shrugged. “You weren’t in great shape, and they’ve already had a scare with Frozone.”

“I didn’t think about it like that,” Karen said.

They both jumped when Helen spoke from the doorway. “And I didn’t think about it from your point of view either.” She studied the floor by her feet. “It’s your decision, and I have complete confidence that if you want to try this plan, you’ll do it well. I’m sorry I made you think I was doubting you.”

Karen sniffed. “It’s ok.” 

When Helen moved uncertainly into the room, Karen went to her almost immediately, sinking into Helen’s hug. Evelyn watched them out of the corner of her eye. Helen kept a tight grip on Karen, and when her eyes met Evelyn’s, the quiet fear in them spoke volumes.

Karen eventually detangled herself from the hug. “Guess I should go suit up.”

Evelyn watched her leave, unwilling to look at Helen and be the first to break the silence.

“I owe you an apology too,” Helen admitted. “We couldn’t have done any of this without you. You’ve been brilliant every step of the way.”

She considered standing on her wounded pride a little longer. A day or two earlier, she would have, but really, Helen had forgiven her for far more, so Evelyn allowed her expression to soften as she caught Helen’s eye. 

“Stress makes us say stupid things.”

Helen’s lip twitched. “That it does.” She moved closer, slowly, unsure of her welcome until Evelyn gripped her chin and leaned up to brush their lips together lightly.

“Thanks for talking to Karen. I would have said pretty much the same thing, but sometimes it means more coming from somebody else.”

“Yeah, well, that’s exhausted my stock of people skills for the next three years, so don’t expect a repeat.”

#

The silence over the comms was loaded, all three of them utterly focused on Voyd. She stood alone on a street corner, using her powers to assist the fire department as they brought civilians out of a flaming office building.

Evelyn had scanned the building and determined there was no sign of Incinerator’s radiation signature, so they’d decided it was a safe enough place to cast their net. 

Helen was crouched behind the facade on the roof of a bank across the street, with a direct eye line to Karen. Her cameras were mostly blocked by the cover, although Evelyn kept a weather eye to be sure no one could creep up behind her. Bob was hidden in the bank’s parking garage, idling the Incredibile in stealth mode. 

Evelyn drummed her fingers nervously on the table top. She’d already drunk far too much coffee, and on a mostly full night’s sleep, the caffeine was making her jittery. Her eyes jumped around the screen to each new person that stopped to rubberneck at the fire, searching for any sign of an impending attack. News crews were already on the scene, shooting footage of the rescue workers, so there was no question that Incinerator would learn of Voyd’s presence, if he hadn’t already. 

Voyd looked calm, creating portals judiciously, helping to evacuate those on the floors above the fire. Her vital signs were stable, but Evelyn had firm instructions from Helen to notify them immediately if Karen’s powers started overloading again.

The phone ringing startled Evelyn so badly she knocked her coffee mug into the keyboard. Swearing angrily, she muted her comm and grabbed a crumpled sweater off the counter, trying to mop up the spill. She caught sight of the incoming number and swore again as she snatched the phone.

“Winston, I’m a little busy right-“

“Hello, Ms. Deavor.”

Evelyn froze. She’d only heard the voice on the other end of the line twice, but the deep tone was unmistakable. 

“Incinerator.”

“Ah, good. No need for introductions, then.” 

She started to reach for the comm system, but his next words stopped her cold. “If you’re thinking of calling your Super friends for help, I wouldn’t advise it. You wouldn’t want to distract them from saving all those civilians, would you?”

Gripping the phone tightly, Evelyn fought the urge to scream. “What do you want?”

“Just a little get-to-know-you chat. Face to face, that is. Research can only tell me so much, and I’m curious about people who try so hard to destroy my kind.” Incinerator paused. “Your brother couldn’t really shed much light on that, no matter how many times I asked him.”

For a long moment, Evelyn couldn’t speak, and when she finally managed to beat back the panic clawing at her throat, her voice was nowhere near as steady as she would have liked. “What have you done to Winston?”

“Nothing that can’t be fixed. Yet.” 

Evelyn experienced a moment of vertigo - she was back in her college dorm, getting the phone call from Winston about their father, she was standing in the doorway of her mother’s studio, feeling the ground drop away underneath her ... she shook her head violently, trying to clear the images. Winston wasn’t dead yet. He couldn’t be.

“Tell me.”

“Listen closely, Ms. Deavor. Your brother’s life depends on it ...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In today’s news: the most unexpected resurrection since Lazarus. Or at least since the return of bell-bottomed jeans. Long time no see, y’all. 
> 
> I just want to take a minute here to express my sincere appreciation for all of you who read and review this fic. It’s so encouraging to know that your hard work is appreciated, and even when life kicks my ass and I barely have time to breathe, seeing somebody enjoy the story brings a smile to my face and reminds me to get back in the saddle with my writing. 
> 
> We’re getting close to the home stretch for Flexibility. I still can’t believe I’ve written 50k+ and the story’s not over yet. Seriously, I get distracted halfway through my text messages some days. But for those of you that have stuck it out, there’s more to come in this ‘verse even after the main story is done, so keep a weather eye for some continuing tales!
> 
> As always, let me know what you think! Hope you’ve enjoyed this chapter!


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